Putnam Valley Settles Teamsters Negotiations With 3 Year Contract Providing 3 Raises Volunteer services provision allows workers to answer emergency calls during business hours

On Wednesday, September 5, Putnam Valley Town Supervisor Carmelo Santos and Union President Bernard E. Boyle will affix their signatures on an agreement reached between Putnam Valley and Local 456 International Brotherhood Of Teamsters, Warehousemen and Helpers Of America.

This agreement will take effect January 1, 2002 and run until December 31, 2004. During this period, union members will receive a salary compensation increase of 4% effective January 2002, 4.5% increase effective January 2003, and a 4.75% increase effective January 2004.

In Putnam Valley, the "Brotherhood Of Teamsters" is made up of all full-time Highway Department and Lake Peekskill Improvement District employees in the following titles: Laborer, Driver, Driver/Mechanics Helper, Working Foreman, Motor Equipment Operator, Water Plant Operator/Foreman, Mechanic and General Foreman.

Following are some of the highlights found in the sixteen Articles that make up the contractual agreement between the Town and the Teamsters Union:

Employees earn paid vacation time at the rate of five days after one year’s continuous employment, ten days after two years, fifteen days after five years, twenty days after eight years, twenty-one days after ten years, twenty-two days after fifteen years, and twenty-three days paid vacation after twenty years continuous employment.

Union members receive fourteen paid holidays made up of the following: New Years Day, Presidents Birthday, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, New Years Eve Day, Employee’s Birthday, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, Day After Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve Day, Christmas Day, and Martin Luther King Jr. Day. There is one day that can be taken as a floating holiday, and that is Martin Luther King Day. In addition, union employees are allowed twelve sick days per year.

The regular work week consists of five consecutive days, Monday through Friday, eight hours per day, for a total of forty hours per work week, following a work schedule that starts at 7:00 A.M. and ends at 3:30 P.M., including one-half hour for lunch. Overtime is paid at time and one-half except when worked on Sunday or a holiday, and then it is paid at double time.

Safety glasses, clothes, and equipment are to be used by employees when required by the Highway Superintendent. On trucks weighing 18,000 pounds or more, two employees are required during snow plowing and sanding.

Effective January 1, 2002, employees will be entitled to an annual cash payment of $250 for purchasing work shoes and/or boots. Each employee will receive this payment as a separate check in February of each year.

The agreement also states, "Employees who are active members of one of the various Volunteer Fire departments and/or Ambulance departments located within the Town shall be entitled to full salary and benefits when responding to alarms and/or calls during their work time."

A special recognition is made for employees who have served ten years by providing them with a "Longevity Payment" of $1,300, and for those employees completing fifteen years of continuous service, an additional $500 "Longevity Payment" is added to the $1,300.

When it comes to "Grievances," the union will try to resolve them within the Union. But, when that cannot be done, the grievance becomes subject to binding arbitration. These hearings are held at the Putnam Valley Town Hall.

Town Supervisor Carmelo Santos said, "We all worked very hard to put this contract together - Larry Cobb, the Putnam Valley Union President, John Henry, the Union Representative and Bernard Doyle, the Teamster Union President. It’s a fair contract and should be ready for signatures shortly."