Grosse Pointe Woods

Woods settles contract with its paramedics, dispatchers

By K. Michelle Moran
C & G Staff Writer

GROSSE POINTE WOODS — The first of the city’s Public Safety Department union contracts has finally been settled.

During a Feb. 6 City Council meeting, City Administrator Alfred Fincham said the council unanimously approved a new contract with the city’s full-time fire specialists/paramedics and clerk/ dispatchers that had already been ratified by their union, the Police Officers Labor Council. The contract covers seven employees — five fire specialists/paramedics and two clerk/dispatchers — and is the city’s smallest public safety union group, he said.

The new, three-year agreement includes a wage freeze and other changes that are expected to save the Woods about $20,000 annually, Fincham said. The last contract expired June 30, 2010.

“It was a purely concessionary contract,” Fincham said. “There were very good negotiations with the union. Their representatives from the bargaining unit understood our position, and they were very professional.”

The agreement creates a two-tier system for any employees hired in the future. Pension and health care plans have been altered for new employees. Treasurer/ Comptroller Dee Ann Irby said for new hires, the pension modifier is now 1.75 percent of the final average compensation; for current employees, she said it’s 2.125 percent. Similarly, she said employees now have higher deductibles and co-pays for health care, along with having to make larger contributions toward retiree health care. Under the hard cap adopted by the city Jan. 1, Fincham said city employees now need to pay more toward health care benefits.

The new deal for the fire specialists/paramedics and clerk/dispatchers is the same as the agreement reached previously with the city’s Department of Public Works and clerical staffers, Irby said. Nonunion city employees, such as administrators, have been making the same concessions since last April, she said.

At press time, Fincham said the city was still negotiating with the unions that represent the public safety officers and command officers. Their contracts also expired June 30, 2010, he said. The deal reached with the POLC is likely to serve as a model for those contracts.

“We’re looking for similar concessions, to be consistent with all of the unions,” Fincham said.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer K. Michelle Moran at kmoran@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1047.