NEW CITY – Rockland County Executive Edwin Day and the bargaining teams for the CSEA and the Rockland Association of Management, representing 1,500 county employees, have reached tentative agreements.
If approved by the rank and file and the county legislature, the agreements would extend through July 31, 2016 previous contracts that expired on December 31, 2013.
Key provisions of both agreements, which are the same, include four vacation days added to eligible employees’ vacation leave balance on March 18, 2016; a $750 lump sum wage payment to eligible employees for 2015; and wage increases – for 2016, an increase range of four percent for the lowest paid workers, currently at an hourly rate of $13.45, to less than 0.5 percent for the highest paid workers, effective January 1, 2016 and July 31, 2016.
County unionized workers have not received a wage increase in some five years, said County Executive Day.
“Our workers have not had a raise since 2010 and I absolutely applaud them for working with my administration and being partners to try to get us out of the financial situation we are in, which is obviously no fault of their own,” he said. “The workers have been workers part of our turnaround and they deserve to get recognition for that.”
Day called the workforce “dedicated [and] committed to providing essential services for the people of Rockland County.”
CSEA Labor Relations Specialist Larry Sparber said the last several years “have been difficult for the public employees of the county. CSEA members have always stepped up to do the right thing for both the county and its taxpayers.”
