Marathon bargaining sessions and calm patience have paid off for the 58 members of PEF's Oswego County bargaining unit, as the County Legislature gave final approval in late May to the members' first contract.
County lawmakers voted 22-3 to approve the pact, which gives the county's managerial employees represented by PEF raises of 5.5 percent over two years. The members' salaries will increase by 3 percent retroactive to January of 1998 and by 2.5 percent retroactive to January 1999.
"It's been a long process, but we're ecstatic over the outcome," said PEF Oswego County negotiating team chairman Michael Rosen.
"We won the right to salary
increases."And the new contract includes a commitment to develop salary schedules with step increments - a first for the high-level employees.
The issue of raises is what prompted the Oswego County managers to join PEF. The workers sought PEF's representation in December 1996, after the County Legislature voted to put a ceiling on the salaries of its managerial workers.
The Oswego County employees became a certified PEF bargaining unit in December of 1997, and negotiations on a new contract got underway the following month.
In July 1998, PEF filed for impasse and shortly thereafter both sides agreed to bring in a state mediator.
According to Tom Privitere, PEF's director of field services for western New York, Dennis Flynn, the union' field representative who served as chief negotiator, and the state mediator were instrumental in crafting the final agreement.
"The final package was based on the foundation that Dennis laid and on the mediator's recommendations," Privitere said.
The approval process began when PEF's Executive Board gave its blessing at the Board's March meeting, and members ratified the pact on March 4.