Hoffman Estates approves 4-year public works contract
Hoffman Estates trustees have approved a rare four-year contract with the village's public works union, granting employees 2 percent raises at the start of each of the first three years.
For the start of the fourth year - Jan. 1, 2019 - there is a clause to reopen the contract for wages and health insurance specifically.
"The reopener is a benefit both ways, for the village and the union," Deputy Village Manager Dan O'Malley said. "It's hard to predict what the market's going to be in the third year of the contract, much less a fourth."
The village wanted a fourth year added to the contract to get the public works union off the three-year renewal cycle it currently shares with the police officers' union. Having only one union contract up for renewal at a time is more manageable for the village administration, O'Malley said.
Apart from across-the-board wage decisions, the contract also creates two new job classifications that will go into effect Jan. 1, 2016 - M1 technician and M3 crew leader. Both classifications will bring a 2 percent wage increase when an employee is promoted to them.
The public works department is divided into three classifications - M1 for basic laborers, M2 for positions requiring some more skill and M3 for such highly skilled jobs as electricians and engineers.
Heavy equipment operators are M1 workers that already earn 2 percent more than others. But they will soon be joined at that higher pay grade by other specialty technicians at the M1 level.
Likewise, the crew leaders among the more skilled M3 employees also will begin earning 2 percent more on Jan. 1, O'Malley explained.
While a four-year contract might be unusual, smooth negotiations between the village and the public works union have become common, he said.
Union president Jay Evans agreed.
"Our members felt like there was mutual respect on both sides of the table throughout the negotiation and feel that ultimately, we ratified a fair deal," he said in a statement released Tuesday.