Des Plaines approves agreement with AFSCME union

The Des Plaines City Council approved a collective bargaining agreement Tuesday with employees in the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees after the previous agreement expired a year ago.

Aldermen unanimously approved the deal with the city's 49 employees in the union. The workers overwhelmingly approved the agreement Dec. 20 by a 35-3 vote. The agreement eliminates a medical insurance plan with the lowest deductible and includes pay increases each year until 2019.

The previous agreement expired Dec. 31, 2015, and the city and union had been negotiating terms of a new contract the past year.

Union members agreed to eliminate a medical insurance plan with a $100 deductible effective Jan. 1, 2018. A vast majority of the union members were on the plan, said John Light, the city's director of human resources, but the city considered the plan unsustainable. The new plan for all members will have a $500 deductible.

Under the plan, base salaries will increase 1.5 percent in 2017, 2 percent in 2018 and 1.75 percent in 2019. Union members will get an $850 lump-sum bonus for 2016 in lieu of a percentage increase.

Meanwhile, collective bargaining agreements with the city's four other unions have expired or will soon expire. The agreement with the Municipal Employees City Coordinating Association, which represents public works employees, expired Dec. 31, 2015, and the parties are negotiating, Light said.

Collecting bargaining agreements with the city's fire union and two police unions expired Dec. 31. The city and International Association of Fire Fighters have started negotiating. The city is preparing to begin talks with the two local chapters of the Metropolitan Alliance of Police, Light said.