(NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK) – By a 7-to-1 margin, more than 90 Niagara Falls Water Board Employees represented by the United Steelworkers (USW) have ratified a new seven-year contract and approved a retroactive pay agreement that will provide a maximum of $3,400 to those Employees who had worked without a contract from 2011 to 2017, a USW Leader told WNYLaborToday.com this afternoon (Tuesday, April 18th).

The new agreement, which runs from 2017 through 2024 and includes a 1.5% pay increase in each year of the contract, was ratified by a final vote of 68-to-10, USW District Sub-Director Jim Briggs told Your On-Line Labor Newspaper.  No changes to the Workers’ retirement plan were made under the new contract, which also includes improved health care coverage, Briggs said.

“Our Members are ‘happy,’” Briggs said.  “Would they have liked to have seen a ‘little more’ in the contract?  ‘Sure they would,’ but the Workers ‘kept the Niagara Falls Community in the back of their minds and this contract is fair to all:’ the Workers, the Water Board and the community.  The Workers did not want to ‘hurt’ city taxpayers.  We ‘look forward to providing the community with good quality water and running the plant effectively.’  In all, it’s a fourteen-year agreement.  ‘Morale is already better because this is a good for everybody.’”

The agreement will now go before the Niagara Falls Water Board Commissioners on Monday (April 24th) for their approval.  Once approved by NFWB, will begin on June 1st (2017).

The new deal was struck in about a month’s time and comes under the leadership of a new majority at the Niagara Falls Water Board, which is nearly two months old. 

The USW represents the lion’s share of the Water Board’s Employees, with two other Niagara County Building Trades Unions - the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 237 and the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 463, representing a small number of additional Water Board Workers.

In a press release, Water Board Chairman Dan O'Callaghan hailed the agreement, saying that it  represented a “hallmark of cooperation between Labor and Management,”

"After eight years of lackluster effort by prior management and the frustration caused to the Union Membership, our decision to move swiftly and decisively toward resolving all issues has resulted in a 'win-win' outcome for our hard-working Union Employees and the water and sewer rate payers of the City of Niagara Falls," he said.

Director of Administrative Services Jim Perry, who joined Water Board in late February, credited the “willingness” of the Union Negotiating Team to "bargain in good faith" in “helping to  achieve a fair deal” for both sides.  "The (USW’s) Jim Briggs and I have negotiated quite a few Labor Agreements over the years.  ‘I’ve always had a lot of respect for him,’" he said. 

The new agreement included average raises of 1.5% in each year of the contract.

In addition, while there will be no retroactive pay for the years the USW-represented Employees who had worked without an agreement, those who were employed throughout that period will be paid $10 for every week from the time they worked through the period at which the new agreement is signed.  Briggs said the maximum payout would be $3,400.

In regards to health care, Water Board Employees who are classified as Tier II - who pursuant to this medical plan did not have a dental and vision rider, now will have both, plus a Health Saving Account funded by the Water Board to “ease the cost of a high deductible” health care plan, Water Board Officials said in the press release. 

As a result, Employees who share 20% of the medical premium package cost, should see a significant annual savings, they said. 

In the second, third, and forth year of the agreement, the Water Board said wage adjustments will be made on the hiring rates to make jobs more competitive with local industry and with comparable job titles in other public employment settings.

Briggs told WNYLaborToday.com the agreement covering health care was “improved,” with the USW-represented Water Board Employees ultimately not having to pay for “out-of-pocket deductibles,” which will now be covered through a negotiated savings in the plan.

“The Two Tier plan is now better for our Members,” he said.