Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES [email protected]
Tuesday, May 11, 2004     Page: 7A

Luzerne County minority Commissioner Stephen A. Urban said he won’t support
the new prison union contract, largely because it doesn’t require employees to
contribute anything toward health care.
   
Also, the contract continues providing health care coverage to retirees and
adds a $100-a-month subsidy toward retiree spousal insurance coverage, Urban
said.
    “I don’t believe we should be asking people in this county who pay
property taxes and have difficulty making ends meet and get very small
cost-of-living adjustments in their Social Security to pay something that’s
not a benefit available to people in the private sector,” Urban said.
   
Urban said the county Prison Board, which includes the three commissioners,
plans to negotiate the employee health care package, including the possibility
of a copayment, at a later date so it doesn’t hold up the rest of the contract
for 200 prison workers.
   
“Normally when you negotiate something outside of a contract members want
something else in return. We did make a commitment that we’d make all
employees pay copayments. The non-union employees are already paying
10-percent copayments,” Urban said.
   
The prison has binding arbitration.
   
The contract would give prison guards no raise in 2004 and 3-percent raises
in each of the following four years of the contract, Urban said.
   
The county will also provide $50,000 in life insurance coverage, up from
$35,000, he said.
   
Also, the number of years for employees to reach the top pay scale will be
reduced from 10 years to eight, Urban said.
   
The union has agreed to give up a $2,000 annual bonus to workers who agreed
to switch from traditional to managed-care health coverage, Urban said.
   
Union representatives and the other Prison Board members have declined to
comment on the details of the contract, which is scheduled to be approved at
the next Prison Board meeting later this month.
   
Jennifer Learn-Andes, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at
831-7333.