Tentative CSEAContract Revealed Ahead Of Vote

CANTON - St. Lawrence County lawmakers have made public the terms of a tentative contract with their largest worker union, ahead of an expected Legislature vote Monday on whether to approve the deal.

Lawmakers have offered a two-year contract to the Civil Service Employees Association Local 1000, Unit 8400, calling for a one-time $750 payment for all active employees as soon as the contract is ratified and a 1 percent raise in 2010 for all workers hired after July 1. Workers getting raises will move up one step in the pay schedule.

Union members are also asked to contribute 10 percent for single health coverage, 15 percent for dependent coverage, and 20 percent for family coverage.

Lawmakers will vote on the agreement in a special meeting at 4 p.m. Monday at the County Court House.

CSEA President Betty J. Thomas said union members have until March 25 to cast ballots for or against the deal.

Negotiations with the union, which declared impasse in June, have taken more than a year. The union's last contract expired Dec. 31, 2008.

Getting a majority of lawmakers to support the tentative agreement has been difficult, said Legislator Alexander A. MacKinnon, R-Fowler.

"It certainly will be a very close vote," said Mr. MacKinnon, a negotiating committee member. "My prediction is that there are enough votes, but I haven't polled the board, so I don't know. I think we need to have an open discussion about it."

Ms. Thomas said meetings with union members to outline the deal have been held over the last week. Asked whether she thinks CSEA members will approve it, she said, "The members will make their own decisions about it. We anticipate that the ballots will go out toward the end of this week."