North New Castle News

City of Wilmington issued the following announcement on Nov. 14.

Four-year agreement is ratified by membership; it includes wage increases and revised healthcare contributions; City Council will now review and vote on pact

Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki and AFSCME Local 1102 President Steve Colon today announced agreement on a new four-year labor contract that will now be sent to City Council for review. The pact, covering 194 of the City’s white-collar employees, is retroactive to the end of the currently expired Local 1102 contract, and will therefore be effective from July 1, 2018 through June 30 of 2022. The agreement provides union members with a 2% cost of living wage increase for Fiscal Years 2020, 2021 and 2022. The City will also provide current regular Local 1102 employees, who are employed when the agreement is approved by the Mayor and City Council, with a $1,250 one-time signing bonus payment.

Member of Local 1102 ratified the new contract at a meeting on October 30. The agreement will be reviewed by City Council’s Finance and Economic Development Committee tonight at 5 p.m. and then referred to the full Council for a vote.

Mayor Purzycki today thanked the members of Local 1102 for approving the new contract and for working with the City on health care changes that are intended to control costs and keep employees healthy. “As with other recent City labor agreements, this newly ratified pact encourages employees to take steps to improve their health, prevent health problems from occurring and reduce the cost of health care. Many thanks also to the City team, lead by the Department of Human Resources with support from the Law Department and the Office of Management and Budget, for their collaborative efforts to bring about this labor settlement.”

Local 1102 union members’ healthcare employee contributions, which held steady at either 4%, 5% or 6% since Fiscal Year 2017, will change beginning January 1, 2020 when the annual contribution will increase to 10% for those who complete annual physicals and appropriate age/gender health screenings, while those who don’t follow health guidelines will pay 12%. In addition to mandatory annual physical and age/gender specific lab screenings in order to be eligible for health premium discounts, the new agreement also increases the co-pay for emergency room visits to $150 (up from $50) and requires mandatory generic drug prescriptions.

 Original source can be found here.