Contracts for AFSCME Local 884 and Local 3144 cover nearly 800 municipal employees.
New Haven, CT – New Haven clerical employees, represented by AFSCME Local 884, and New Haven professional management employees, represented by AFSCME Local 3144, reached new contract agreements with the City of New Haven.
Negotiated and agreed to by the unions and the Elicker Administration, the contracts were unanimously approved by the full Board of Alders at their evening meeting on June 5. The contracts will take effect retroactively from July 1, 2020. The Local 884 contract extends to June 30, 2025, and the Local 3144 contract until 2026. Both bargaining units have been working without an active contract for three years.
“The City of New Haven has an incredibly dedicated workforce who have gone above and beyond these last few years to provide critical services to our over 135,000 residents. AFSCME Local 884 and Local 3144 represent the majority of our city workers, and these new contracts will provide our employees with a well-deserved raise, secure savings for the City, and help us to retain and attract high-quality employees in the future to keep our city running and moving forward,” said Mayor Justin Elicker. “I want to thank Local 3144 President Gildemar Herrera, Local 884 President Kymberly Bray, and City Labor Relations Director Wendella Ault-Battey for their hard work and good-faith negotiations that resulted in final contracts that we can all be proud of.”
The Local 884 contract will cover over 400 clerical employees who serve as library workers, police records clerks, school security officers, administrative assistants, emergency dispatchers, and traffic and parking employees.
The 5-year contract provides 3 percent general wage increases for each year of the agreement and includes retroactive pay. The agreement transitions school security guards from 10-month employees to 12-month and increases payments of Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) from 1.25 to 1.5 percent.
Medical coverage changes include an optional high deductible plan for existing employees that is automatic for new hires and a new prescription plan with cost savings of up to 4 percent. Local 884 members will now have the ability to designate their retirement benefits to other designees besides a spouse.
The contract was ratified by the union membership on April 26.
The Local 3144 contract will cover roughly 400 professional management employees who oversee most agencies in the city.
It includes 2.75 percent general wage increases for years 2020 to 2022 and 3 percent general wage increases for the remaining years, including retroactive pay and step increases for the second and fifth year of the contract.
The step increases boost most members’ salaries by about 30 percent along a ten-step salary scale. At the top step, the contract will provide those employees a roughly 18-percent salary increase. Those employees not eligible for step increases would receive a $1,000 one-time bonus.
On May 12 members voted to ratify the contract.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, New Haven city employees were essential to maintaining and operating vital services for residents. They took emergency phone calls, updated and provided 50,000 laptops for students to work remotely when schools were closed, kept the community and schools safe and library programs running.
Both local union leaders recognize the new contracts will continue to support the dedicated work and contributions their members provide to city residents.
“Our members are vital to meeting the needs of New Haven residents. We supported our community through the pandemic and will continue to post-pandemic,” said Local 3144 President, Gildemar Herrera. “The salary increases will assist in the betterment of many members who have been unable to cover their basic needs. Those who have been here for the last 30 years have not received a step increase since 1998. This contract also continues to support the longer-serving employees through the benefit of longevity.”
Herrera, who serves as IT Director for New Haven Public Schools District, added, “We have more work to do, but this is good start.”
“We all play an important role in the functioning of the City of New Haven. For our members who worked tirelessly during the pandemic this contract makes a big difference,” Kymberly Bray, president of Local 884, said. “The pay increases will bring a better way of life for a lot of people. Instead of working at another job for an extra couple of days, they will be able to make up for that money with one job. That means more time with their families.”
Bray, who is a police records clerk in the New Haven Police Department, believes the agreement is a step in the right direction for her members.
“We are important and should be valued so appreciation in the form of this contract goes a long way.”
Council 4 Staff Representative Patrick Sampson was Local 3144’s advocate during contract negotiations. “After a long negotiation process with many ebbs and flows, we are pleased with the outcome for the agreement. This contract helps elevate our professional management members whose wages have been stagnated for years and better aligns their salaries with the vital work they do.”
“I’m very happy to have worked at the table with the City to get this contract done for Local 884 members,” Chris Sugar, Council 4 staff representative attorney who advocated for Local 884, said. “It’s a reflection of how much our members mean and what they deserve in providing services to the citizens of New Haven.”
Labor Relations Director Wendella Ault-Battey led contract negotiations for the City of New Haven.
PRESS CONTACTS:
