Babylon reaches agreement with town workers on terms of new contract
Babylon Town Hall in Lindenhurst in 2020. The town has reached an agreement with the Civil Service Employees Union on the terms of the new contract. Credit: Barry Sloan
The Town of Babylon has reached an agreement on the terms of a new contract with one of its major bargaining units that would stabilize raises and increase the amount of medical insurance contributions from the union.
The Civil Service Employees Association, or CSEA, is currently under an eight-year contract that expires at the end of the year. The union and the town earlier this year began negotiating for a new contract and this month came to an agreement on the terms. The contract, which starts Jan. 1, has not been signed yet, said Matt McDonough, an outside attorney for the town.
The new agreement calls for a nine-year contract period and includes 2% raises for each of those years, McDonough said. The current contract had a 2.5% raise for the first two years, a 3% raise for the next two years and then Consumer Price Index adjustments and cost-of-living increases that ranged between those two percentages, McDonough said.
In addition, all union members will now pay 15% of their medical coverage costs, under the agreement. The current contract says only employees hired after 2009 pay that cost, he said. Health care costs are “hard to manage,” McDonough said, and rose more than 12.6% this year to $16.2 million.
“This is a pretty strongly negotiated contract,” McDonough said. “It benefits the town and the taxpayers, and it’s a fair contract for the union because at least they know they’re getting some kind of increase.”
Wendi Bowie, a spokeswoman for CSEA Long Island Region One, did not respond to requests for comment or provide answers to questions she asked Newsday to submit.
CSEA employees are known as the town’s “white collar” workers and hold positions throughout town departments. Babylon currently has 118 CSEA members but as part of contract talks agreed to a reduction down to 100 workers through attrition, McDonough said.
The union’s town workers who were hired prior to 2009 receive 30 vacation days and five personal days, he said. Those hired since that year receive 10 vacation days after a probationary period, and 25 days after 15 years on the job plus four personal days. All workers earn 12 sick days a year.
The Town of Babylon has reached an agreement on the terms of a new contract with one of its major bargaining units that would stabilize raises and increase the amount of medical insurance contributions from the union.
The Civil Service Employees Association, or CSEA, is currently under an eight-year contract that expires at the end of the year. The union and the town earlier this year began negotiating for a new contract and this month came to an agreement on the terms. The contract, which starts Jan. 1, has not been signed yet, said Matt McDonough, an outside attorney for the town.
The new agreement calls for a nine-year contract period and includes 2% raises for each of those years, McDonough said. The current contract had a 2.5% raise for the first two years, a 3% raise for the next two years and then Consumer Price Index adjustments and cost-of-living increases that ranged between those two percentages, McDonough said.
In addition, all union members will now pay 15% of their medical coverage costs, under the agreement. The current contract says only employees hired after 2009 pay that cost, he said. Health care costs are “hard to manage,” McDonough said, and rose more than 12.6% this year to $16.2 million.
“This is a pretty strongly negotiated contract,” McDonough said. “It benefits the town and the taxpayers, and it’s a fair contract for the union because at least they know they’re getting some kind of increase.”
Wendi Bowie, a spokeswoman for CSEA Long Island Region One, did not respond to requests for comment or provide answers to questions she asked Newsday to submit.
CSEA employees are known as the town’s “white collar” workers and hold positions throughout town departments. Babylon currently has 118 CSEA members but as part of contract talks agreed to a reduction down to 100 workers through attrition, McDonough said.
The union’s town workers who were hired prior to 2009 receive 30 vacation days and five personal days, he said. Those hired since that year receive 10 vacation days after a probationary period, and 25 days after 15 years on the job plus four personal days. All workers earn 12 sick days a year.
Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.
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