School district bus drivers, other workers OK labor contract

AFSCME local chapter 1584 — the union representing Manatee County School district operational employees, including bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodial staff, warehouse workers and maintenance staff — tentatively approved a new union contract in a 90 to 20 vote on Saturday.

The new deal includes a two-and-a-half percent pay raise, effective retroactively to July 1, and changes to insurance premiums. For employees with their spouse or their spouse plus children on the plan, the premium increases will surpass the pay raise.

The union rejected a similar plan in October, but after the district adjusted some language and inserted a “Me too” clause — meaning if the teachers union successfully negotiates for better insurance premiums the operational staff would receive them as well — AFSCME officials held a second vote.

District teachers rejected their contract due to identical increases in premiums, and last week the district and union decided they were at an impasse. A special magistrate will review both sides and make a non-binding recommendation. If the union and district still disagree, the school board will act as the final arbitrator.

Local AFSCME president Bruce Mohr said his union did not want to go to impasse, despite being less than thrilled with the numbers in the new contract.

“This wasn’t one of those years I thought we walked away with a great contract, but I think we did the best we could with what was out there,” Mohr said. “But impasses around the state typically don't go in favor of the unions.”

Deputy Superintendent Ron Ciranna said the district would have to use the operational staff’s retroactive pay to cover the increased health insurance premiums if AFSCME didn’t ratify a contract by Monday.

“We are very pleased that we can provide AFSCME with their retro-pay and move their contract to our next School Board Meeting for approval,” Ciranna said in an email.

Under the new premium rates, employees with spouses on the district health insurance plan would pay $228 more in monthly insurance premiums for the most basic level of coverage. Employees with their family on the plan would pay $265 more monthly. There will be no rate changes for employees who are the only ones on their policy, or for employees with just themselves and one child on the plan. Employees with just themselves and multiple children on the plan would save $90 under the new plan.

Starting hourly pay for custodians would increase from $10.50 to $10.76, a bus driver’s rate would go from $11.37 to $11.65 an hour and cafeteria worker wages would increase from $9.92 to $10.17 an hour.

Several bus drivers were unhappy with the new deal on Monday morning, even if they had voted in favor of it.

William Wilson, a six-year bus driving veteran, said he didn’t like the contract, but he felt that was the best deal the union was going to get, so he voted in favor.

Bus driver Robert Hicks said he opposed the deal, but he said he understands why people voted in favor.

“(People think) If you do not ratify this, they’ll take away the 2.5 percent raise and won’t pay retroactive pay,” Hicks said. “It’s either accept this or we’ll take these things away.”

District negotiators told the teachers union they were likely to lose their retroactive pay if they didn’t approve a contract. Retroactive pay typically amounts to half of whatever the new salary increase is. Employees usually receive their “retropay” in December.

Mohr said about 10 percent of the operational staff who could vote showed up on Saturday. All of the roughly 1,000 school municipal employees are allowed to vote on contract negotiations, regardless of whether they are union members or not.

Several operational staff said they didn’t know about the Saturday morning vote, which union officials announced late last week after resuming negotiations on Nov. 9. A sign advertising the vote was posted on a bulletin board at the Matzke Complex, the school district’s transportation hub. Union officials said they distributed fliers to employees last week.

Mohr said low turnout is not uncommon, even on contract votes.

“Turnout is iffy. I don't know exactly what the factor is. Some years you're lucky to have 30 or 40 people show up,” Mohr said. “I was really shocked in this short of notice that this many people did come out. It was literally three days notice.”

The school board will review the contract at the Nov. 22 meeting.

This story was originally published November 14, 2016 at 5:41 PM with the headline "School district bus drivers, other workers OK labor contract."