Borough, Workers Reach 6-Year Contract Agreement
Fair Lawn's blue- and white-collar workers have reached a new 6-year contract agreement with the borough that will afford them a 6.5 percent raise over the contract's life.
After working for more than three years under an expired contract, Fair Lawn’s blue- and white-collar workers have reached a new employment agreement with the borough.
Blue and white employees, who hadn’t seen a raise since 2009 when their old contract expired, will receive a 6.5 percent pay increase over the six-year life of the new contract, which runs until the end of 2015, borough manager Tom Metzler said.
He said that in exchange for the pay bumps, blue and white workers — who comprise all employees who are not police officers, department heads and supervisors — made numerous concessions that should save the borough money in the long run.
“I think the contract represents reasonable increases and I believe the concessions are going to result in cost savings, “ said Metzler, who characterized negotiations as “very tough.” “I’m happy for the employees.”
As part of the deal, future blue and white hires will belong to a new employee tier with salary ranges that are 10 percent lower across the board. They’ll go from minimum to maximum salary over a period of five years, rather than seven, and will no longer receive longevity pay based on their years of service to the borough, Metzler said.
All blue and white workers, both present and future, will increase their health care co-pay from $10 to $20 starting Jan. 1, 2014.
“This is what the public that we all work for has been asking for – making government more efficient,” Metzler said. “And I think these are steps in the right direction.”
It may take years before some of the employee givebacks result in savings to the borough, but Metzler stressed that they’ll be continued savings when they do come.
“You can’t have quick fixes,” he said. “You have to come up with things that are going to be sustained.”
Flexible scheduling, which enables department heads and supervisors to assign their workers previously off-hour shifts without paying overtime, has also been formalized as part of the contract.
Department heads and supervisors will now be able to assign employees to work any day of the week from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., as long as they provide 28 days advance notice, Metzler said.
He said the implementation of flex hours should save the borough considerably in divisions where overtime is accrued regularly.
In one case, sewer division employees were racking up regular overtime on the weekend responding to complaints about odors coming from the south siphon, Metzler said.
Upon investigation, he learned that if the grates at the south siphon weren’t cleaned out daily, they picked up solids that would aerate and create odors. As a result, residents would call police to complain about the foul odors on the weekend when workers weren’t there to clean the grates.
Police would confirm the odors and relay the complaints to the sewer department who would then end up coming in to clean the grates out at overtime rates.
With flexible hours in place, that overtime should no longer be an issue.
“If you know that you have to [clean the grates on the weekend], you can set up a schedule where people are working on Saturdays and Sundays doing that and other normal tasks that would be done during a workweek,” Metzler said. “It’s not costing you overtime and the public is still being serviced. That’s the intent of flexible hours.”
Flexible hours won’t, however, eliminate overtime completely. Employees who come in after 8 p.m. — say to fix a water main break in the middle of the night — will still receive overtime for their work.
Metzler, who now has negotiated the last two employee contracts, said he was proud of the accomplishment.
“I’m extremely pleased and happy that I can walk out the door and at least they’ll have a contract in place as they move forward,” he said.
Metzler has also worked out a handshake agreement on a new contract with borough department heads and said he hoped to have one in place with supervisors by the time he steps down on May 30.
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simple
11:53 am on Wednesday, March 13, 2013
while i appreciate changes being made to help save money, as a taxpayer it really bothers me that it took so long to make these simple changes in the first place. some so simple as "sewers need to be cleaned on weekends" . how many years have we been paying people time and a half to clean sewers on the weekend? is our public employee management that bad that it took someone this long to realize we can simply just schedule someone to work on weekends?
from the outside looking in it seems like our public employees take advantage of the overtime system. the only time i understand overtime is due to emergencies such as sandy. if the public sector was managed like the private i guarantee there wouldn't be half as much overtime given out.
if someone has to work an hour or two late on an extremely busy day, allow them to leave an hour or two early on a slow day instead of sitting around.
Stuart Pace
3:36 pm on Wednesday, March 13, 2013
The blame isn't on the employees.The blame is on the politicians. The constant change at the top position, Borough Manager, does not allow for anything to be planned and monitored. While many may not agree with Tom Metzler's approach, he is running the town like a business, which it is. He is planning for the future, a future he won't be part of. And as soon as a new Borough Manager is appointed, that person can undo everything that is in place. And probably will. Too bad. And you can thank the Democrats and the Republicans for this. Councilman Peluso said he didnt think we should extend Mr. Metzler s contract because the "newly elected councilpeople" should have a say? Well then Mr. Peluso, isn't it your job as the current councilman to lead and not wait until your party has "control" and appoint someone else? Just say it out loud. The Dems don't want Tom because he is republican. End of story.
Stu Pace for Mayor!
10:32 pm on Wednesday, March 13, 2013
I just love the borough manager comment, “I’m happy for the employees.” Mr Metzler you work for us, you know the people who pay the bills?
Stuart Pace
5:33 pm on Thursday, March 14, 2013
These employees make up a large portion of the volunteer groups in town, from Emergency services to civic and social clubs that donate time and money to charitable causes. We need them. Don't sell them short. They are what makes a Borough a town.
Concerned
4:41 pm on Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Poor management leads to increased overtime. Someone should check out all the overtime in the police department - They are so archaic with the schedule they work. There is too much wasted time during shift changes based on an 8 hour work day. The town would benefit if they looked at a 12 hour day, 4 days on 3 days off schedule. They see things we as taxpayers could not even think of on a daily basis. The morale would surely be better if they had another day to have some sort of reprieve. With the 5 days on and two days off, officers are always calling out of work creating the necessary overtime. Just a suggestion-----
Go Figure
6:04 pm on Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Sounds like you have a stake in this schedule change Officer Concerned.
Concerned
10:32 pm on Wednesday, March 13, 2013
No, I am not an officer, nor am I related to one, I am just a taxpayer - I am just "concerned" about all of the overtime they rack up - in all of the township departments.
Just Facts
10:32 pm on Wednesday, March 13, 2013
12 hour days stink!! My friend worked for PSEG for 30 years and lost all his overtime going to a 12 hour day. He was working very hard - 12 hours straight pay -exhausted working 12 hours - Driving a truck,dealing with important wires after 12 hours is not a good idea. Driving a car around for 12 hours is not a good idea either- how could a person look for criminals for 12 hour straight - sounds like a bad idea to me. Its a bad suggestion. Maybe 4 days on with 10 hour days works better for criminal justice people. no one should be in a car for 12 hours especially 2 or 3 days in a row....
Concerned
11:59 am on Thursday, March 14, 2013
Yes, 10 hours make better sense -
Just Facts
10:32 pm on Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Those poor sewer people have to come in now can clean poopies on the weekend all ime of the night a reg pay? Now you are going to get people who dont clean poopy too well - I will definately tell my kids not to become sewer workers - poor job and poor treatment now - 1% raises - jeesh - its a stinky job for sure!
Rand Rubio
11:59 am on Thursday, March 14, 2013
What a crappy deal for Fair Lawn. We already have a grossly over paid staff and now we are giving them increase above the CPI in addition to longevity increases. This retro pay increase nonsense needs to stop too.
DisgustedAgain
5:33 pm on Thursday, March 14, 2013
If only Mr. Metzler showed his fellow workers how to negotiate, they too could have received 10% over 2 years!
Go Figure
6:00 pm on Friday, March 15, 2013
Sadly disgusted you have not been reading the articles or comments on patch. Mr. Metzler turned down his raise. I think he appreciated the fact that the politicians kept their word and offered it. He put Fair Lawn before himself -- hopefully you do too!
SeenItAllTooOften
10:12 pm on Sunday, March 17, 2013
Yes GoFigure..he did just that while continuing to collect $15000.00 annually for health care coverage.