City Council approved a new five-year contract with the local union representing employees in the Department of Public Works (DPW) that covers that runs through 2021.

A resolution AR-207-18 was adopted by the governing body at its regular meeting on Sept. 10.

The city negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union No. 469. The Hazlet-based union represents about 50 DPW employees, according to City Administrator Cherron Rountree.

The new contract calls for salary increases of roughly 2 percent in each year. The previous agreement from 2011 through 2015 had no increase in the first year, followed by increases of 2 percent in each of the last four years.

Terms of the new collective bargaining agreement are detailed in a 14-page Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) between the city and the union dated July 11 that spells out the changes made to the previous contract.

All terms and conditions remain effective from the previous agreement, which expired at the end of 2015, and dated back to July 2011. The new agreement runs from 2016 through 2021.

Among the changes to the previous agreement noted in the MOU:

• Department of Recreation is no longer recognized by the bargaining unit.
• A retiring employee’s terminal leave payment may not exceed $15,000 but that does not apply to any employee who on or before Dec. 19, 2008 had accrued more than $15,000 in terminal leave pay, and employees hired after Jan. 1, 2013 cannot receive more than $15,000 in terminal leave pay; those hired after Jan. 1, 2013 can receive a terminal leave payout of accumulated but unused vacation and personal days and compensation hours but not unused sick days, limited to $15,000.
• Annual clothing maintenance allowance, paid bi-annually, will be $1,000 for employees in the the Street Division and $1,110 for employees in the Sanitation Division.

The MOU also breaks down the hourly and annual compensation for various positions, based on when an employee was hired.

The previous contract from 2015 through 2019 between the city and the bargaining unit of Wall-based Local 32 of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPBEIU) Rahway City Hall workers and public safety telecommunicators included an salary increase of 1.25 percent in the first year (2015), followed by increases of 2 percent in each year through 2019.