Brookhaven Town, blue-collar workers' union ratify contract
Town of Brookhaven Supervisor Edward P. Romaine on Dec. 2 in Woodbury. Credit: Howard Schnapp
Brookhaven Town's blue-collar union workers have reached agreement with town officials on a new contract that will boost annual pay an average 2.5% over 10 years, town and union officials said.
The pact, which covers a 12-year period retroactive to January 2020, makes Juneteenth a paid holiday and calls for new employees to pay more of their health care premiums, officials said. Blue-collar workers have been working without a contract since the last one expired in December 2019.
The town board voted 7-0 on Thursday to approve the deal. Union members voted 131-53 on Wednesday to ratify the pact, which expires in December 2031.
Supervisor Edward P. Romaine, during a town board meeting Thursday, said the agreement "protected the taxpayers, and the workers got a fair salary increase over the course of this contract."
Jerry Laricchiuta, president of the Long Island region of the Civil Service Employees Association, which represents the Brookhaven workers, said the contract provides "all kinds of protections for 10 years," but he added that the annual raises don't keep up with inflation. He noted that Social Security recipients this month received 8% boosts pegged to the cost of living.
“We always try to get a better deal. I think that the board, after three years, did the best they could do,” Laricchiuta told Newsday. “It’s really not a great deal for this year because inflation’s so high. ... [But] if the members voted for it, then they think it’s fair.”
Union members will receive $1,250 signing bonuses for both 2020 and 2021, according to a memorandum of agreement between the union and town.
Annual raises, retroactive to January 2022, range from 2% to 3%, totaling 25% over 10 years, the agreement said.
Workers hired after Jan. 1, 2020, will pay 20% of their health premiums for 12 years, the agreement said. The charge does not apply to workers hired before Dec. 31, 2019.
The pact adds Juneteenth and Presidents Day as paid holidays and allows the town to drop Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays. Juneteenth, a federal holiday celebrated on the third Monday in June, marks the day in 1865 when the last slaves learned they had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation.
Romaine said the deal also offers expanded funeral leave for workers.
The pact for blue-collar workers was the last of three major contracts reached by Brookhaven officials and their unionized employees.
Highway workers ratified a deal in 2021 that raises salaries 21.25% over 12 years. White-collar employees last June approved a 12-year deal with pay hikes ranging from 2% to 3% over 10 years.
A state mediator had been hired to help settle the white-collar deal but was not involved in the final pact, officials said.
Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.
