Posted on: Thursday, August 19, 2004

UPW ratifies 2-year contract costing $16.2M

Advertiser Staff

The 8,500 members of the United Public Workers Unit 1 have ratified a two-year contract with the state and four counties that will give them 7.5 percent pay increases costing taxpayers $16.2 million.

Unit 1 includes custodians, sanitation workers and other blue-collar workers. The contract is effective from July 1, 2003, to June 30, 2005, but the workers won't see any raises until sometime next year, since the Legislature, which must ratify the agreement, does not convene until January. At least one of the four county councils also must approve the contract.

The unit is the last of the state's 13 bargaining groups to reach a settlement on wages with its employers for the period that began in July 2003.