New Providence Council Approves PBA Labor Contracts

New Providence Council members approved labor contracts on Monday night for members of Local 469, affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and members of New Providence Patrolmen’s and Sergeant’s Associations of PBA Local 132.

Council President Michael Gennaro outlined the incremental salary increases through December 31, 2014 as follows:

• 2011: 0 percent
• 2012: 2 percent increase effective July 1, which is really a 1 percent increase for the year
• 2013: 1 percent increase effective January 1, and 1 percent increase effective July 1
• 2014: 1.875 percent increase for the year

“Those increases will be mirrored in 2012, 2013 and 2014 for the teamsters and we’re also planning on passing them through to non-union employees, too,” Gennaro explained to council members. “What that amounts to over the four-year period, if you do that on a compounded basis, is an average increase of 1.47 percent per year over those four years, which I think is fair to the employees in this difficult environment we are in, but is also fair to the tax payers.”

Gennaro said the council has been looking to get some additional compensated time for members of the PBA beyond the hours they are working now.

“We were in fact successful in getting 48 hours added into the work year for both of those groups and they will be compensated for those hours at the rate that I just outlined,” Gennaro said. “However, the benefit to the borough is we now will be able to save the need of hiring another police officer with more benefits and I think that outweighs the additional expense we would be incurring by paying this extra time, which is compensated as straight time. It is not considered overtime.”

Councilman Jim Cucco said this will help the borough because each officer will put in an additional 48 hours of service per year, negating the need to hire more officers with benefits.  

“In effect, it will be a savings for the borough,” he said.

Councilman Bob Robinson congratulated the Personnel Committee because negotiations are tough and it takes quite a long time to reach an agreement.

“It took a lot of time, a lot of effort and took a lot of patience, but it really is a great deal," he said. "It’s a wonderful thing."