Millinocket ratifies union contracts Police, firefighters, public works employees negotiate for wage increases

MILLINOCKET – Millinocket has ratified three-year contracts with unions representing workers in the Police, Public Works and Fire Departments.

“We are trying to recognize the long-term costs of doing business and that is what all three of these contracts do,” said Town Manager Gene Conlogue.

“As we hire new people, based on the new pay scales, we will see some long-term savings and people currently here won’t be penalized,” said the manager.

He said the new contracts also address the issue of rising health care costs. “If increases continue as they have in the last few years, we have developed a mechanism in the contracts where some of the money targeted for wage increases will instead be used to pay for the health insurance costs,” said Conlogue. “We have negotiated a wage and benefit package that is good for the employees and also good for the town.”

Don Bolduc, a police union official, described the new contract as fair and equitable considering the overall economy. John Rush, a Public Works Department union official, and Jon Crawford, a fire union official, both agreed.

The Town Council ratified contracts for the Police and Public Works Department last week. The Fire Department contract was ratified last month.

All three contracts run from July 1, 2002, through June 30, 2005.

The police contract provides pay increases of 2 percent in the first and second years and a 3 percent pay increase in the third year. The Public Works and Fire Department contracts provide pay increases of 3 percent in each of the three years. First-year pay increases are retroactive to July 1.

Conlogue said firefighters also would receive a 10-cent per hour increase in recognition for their training as intermediate-level emergency medical technicians, which replaces a $300 a year stipend.

Employees hired after July 1, 2002, in all three departments will have a new pay scale, which is significantly lower than the current one. For example, a new police officer without academy training will be paid $10 an hour under the new pay scale. Under the old contract, that same officer would have been paid $12.19 an hour.

Conlogue said increases in health care costs would affect pay increases during the third year of all three contracts.

Should the cost of health care increase by 25 percent during the first two years of the contracts, he said workers in all three unions would receive a 2 percent pay increase instead of a 3 percent increase. Should health care costs rise by more than 30 percent during the first two years of the contracts, workers will receive a 1.5 percent pay increase instead of a 3 percent pay increase.

“It is trying to address the increased cost of health insurance in a way that allows the town to continue to provide it to our staff,” said Conlogue. He said employees of all three departments would continue to pay 10 percent of the cost of health care.