Thirty-five public employees represented by the Communication Workers of America (CWA) Local 1032 will see salary increases as a three-year collective bargaining agreement (through 2013) was ratified at a special township committee meeting on Wednesday, October 26.
Plainsboro Business Administrator Robert O. Sheehan said the CWA union represents a diverse group of personnel, mostly white-collar employees such as administrative staff and inspectors. The contract calls for 1 percent increases every six months through the end of 2013.
Other changes brought about in the new collective bargaining agreement include the phasing out of longevity pay and increased employee co-pays on health insurance. Currently Plainsboro employees represented by the CWA are eligible for longevity pay after seven years of employment. With the new agreement employees hired on or after January 1, 2012, will not become eligible for longevity pay. Current employees will not be affected. Sheehan said that Plainsboro’s last CWA-member hire was roughly six months ago, and they would also become eligible after seven years with the current changes in place.
Standard benefits for Plainsboro employees, which include vacation and sick time, paid holidays, health and dental insurance as well as access to the New Jersey pension, will all remain the same. However employees will be paying an additional $5 on doctor visits, and Sheehan says this small increase could mean savings to the township of between $50,000 and $100,000. For regular physician visits co-pays will go up from $15 to $20. Visits to a specialist will go up from $20 to $25 and the cost of prescription co-pays will go from $15 to $20.
“This is helpful because we are in the process of moving our benefits to the state health benefits plan. This concession on co-pays will really only apply to next year as we still have to provide employees with private insurance. We will not be able to make that switch instantly, and the changes allows us to be more uniform in our co-pays so when we do market to private insurance companies we can get a little better rate next year,” Sheehan said.
The resolution passed October 26 included the necessary amendments to the township’s personnel policies and procedures manual to reflect the new agreement. Up next for Plainsboro is the 2012 budget.
