Water Union Set to Negotiate Contract

Let the negotiations on a new labor contract begin. 

The utility workers’ union for the has agreed to begin negotiations with the board on a new contract right away.

The existing contract that came under intense criticism in the “performance audit” of the BCWA and which the board blames for many of its troubles does not expire until next spring.

Brian Mellor, union president, and Donna Glover, vice president, said they are willing to start “negotiating a new contract."  But they won’t open up the existing contract.

The board was informed of the union's decision at a special workshop late Wednesday afternoon at the Warren headquarters on Child Street.

“The union is ready to negotiate,” said Executive Director Pasquale DeLise. “The union will give us a date that’s available.”

Barrington representative Allan Klepper said: “The board needs a strategy session first to know how to proceed.”

Warren representative William Gosselin agreed: “It’s premature to set a date for anything.”

Gosselin said the board needs to hold an executive session to discuss the contract and, specifically, the recommendations suggested by the performance audit. That executive session will take place next Wednesday, July 27, at another workshop on the performance audit.

Among the items expected to be negotiated are the recommendations in the audit by B&E Consulting that are estimated to save the water authority $100,000 in production costs. Among those recommendations:

• meter department salaries be evaluated;
• a freeze of all salaries in the treatment department;
• production department overtime;
• a cut in production department salaries by 10 percent;
• shift employees working on Sundays;
• holiday coverage of the treatment plant;
• overtime provisions;
• hourly pay rates;
• the number of paid holidays;
• vacation day overtime;
• health insurance,
• a change in the employee contribution to the pension plan.

Gosselin and DeLise actually got into a bit of tiff over production costs. Gosselin said any recommendation that saves money should be given the highest priority, and he is unsure that DeLise is treating them in that way.

DeLise took exception to his comment and said that he is treating them “as a top priority while having plenty of other work to do.”

Klepper recommended again that the board ask Walter Edge, president of B&E Consulting, to meet with them to talk about his recommendations.

“Have we made contact with Edge to come back?” he asked. “Having him talk to us is an important element. Is it going happen? We owe it to ourselves to ask him.” 

“I think we need to finish the process first,” DeLise said, referring to the weekly workshops being held by the board on the audit.

Barrington representative John McElroy Jr. agreed with Klepper that a meeting with Edge “would be beneficial.”

Bristol representative Joseph Rego said: “We should invite him. If he says no, he says no.”

Wednesday’s meeting ended with Jeff Black of Barrington, a longtime critic of the water authority, asking to present questions to the board on what he said are some “flawed” parts of the performance audit.

An initial question on infrastructure immediately raised the hackles of the board, though. Things went downhill after that and his questions were left unsaid. Several board members, including Rego and Frank Nencka of Warren, ultimately asked him to submit his questions in writing.

“We’ll get you the answers,” said Nencka.