AFSCME local union OKs contract for 1,000 U of I staffers

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) - A large University of Illinois employee union has approved a three-year contract with the Urbana-Champaign campus.

Local 3700 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees OK'd the pact tentatively agreed to last month.

The (Champaign) News-Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/1T08pNU ) the deal affects about 1,000 clerical, child-care, library support staff and other university employees, along with about 300 in University of Illinois Extension offices across the state.

The agreement provides a 2.5 percent across-the-board pay increase dating to Aug. 31, 2014 - the same given to other employees last summer.

Longevity and "step" pay increases typically earned as employees gain seniority are frozen during the deal.

Child-development workers will also get a one-time $200 bonus on July1.

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Information from: The News-Gazette, http://www.news-gazette.com