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Lockport members ratify four-year pact
PEF members at Lockport Hospital near Buffalo have ratified a new four-year contract.
The new pact is retroactive to October 1, 2003, when the previous agreement ran out, and provides across-the-board pay raises of 3 percent on October 1 in each of the first three years, as well as 2 percent raises on October 1, 2006, and April 1, 2007.
It was ratified by a vote of 57 to 11 at a meeting on June 9.
“Holding onto their health care benefits and holding the line on employee contributions were among the most important issues for members, and we did both of those things,” said PEF field representative Art Munson, the chief negotiator for this bargaining unit.
PEF Division 505 Council Leader Antoinette Delahunt, who chaired the PEF contract team, said the pay raises were also very important to members, as well as resolution of a retiree health insurance issue.
The agreement calls for the hospital to contribute $500 to a health care retirement account for each year of service for full-time employees, and $200 per year of service for part-time employees. And, starting January 1, 2005, the hospital’s retirement plan will provide an unreduced health benefit for covered employees at age 62, if they have at least 25 years of service.
Delahunt, who has helped negotiate every contract for the unit since PEF became the bargaining agent in 1994, said the tone at the bargaining table generally was cordial and constructive.
Division 505 did pull one mobilizing trick out of its hat, however.
“As we got near the end of the negotiations,” Delahunt said, “PEF sent us blue and white lanyards for our hospital ID badges, that say, ‘NYS PEF.’ Wearing them helped members express their unity, and it surprised a lot of people to see how many of us (105) are in PEF.”
— Sherry Halbrook
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The
Communicator September 04
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votes on new PS&T pact
Members 'shadow' governor
PEF at SEIU & AFT conventions
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President's Message
Member's Mailbag
Legislative Action
Nurses Station
Member Mobilization
Retirees In Action
PEF Membership Benefits &Travel
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Lockport ratifies
4-yr pact
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Member is NY Guard Soldier '04
PEF candidates '04 endorsements
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