TWU's contract ratification spells end of a 'long road'
Council expected to OK pact for four-year contract with union
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer
Brick Township and the Transport Workers Union are close to resolving their longstanding contract impasse.

"I am hopefully optimistic that this will be the end of a very difficult period," Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis said.

The Township Council was slated to go into closed session at the March 3 council meeting to discuss a memorandum of agreement that would approve a four-year contract with the TWU Local 225, Branch 4.

The TWU and the township were at odds for most of the last half of 2008 and met more than 13 times in negotiations in an effort to hammer out an agreement. The union's old contract expired on Dec. 31, 2007.

The TWU represented roughly 225 blue-collar employees. That number has since dropped to roughly 180. The township laid off 42 employees on Dec. 31, mostly in the public works department, because of a projected $3.8 million shortfall in the 2009 budget.

Acropolis said he could not release the details of the agreement, but did say the union membership had agreed to contribute toward the cost of their health care premiums and increased co-pays.

"This will be the first time in history township employees will be contributing towards their health care," he said. "They realize now the financial shape the township had been in and what we need to do to protect jobs in the future and protect the taxpayers."

John T. Menshon, chairman of Local 225, said a majority of union members voted to ratify the contract on Feb. 26.

"It was a long road," Menshon said. "We were willing to make the tough decisions and sacrifices. Ultimately, we ratified a fair contract."

Menshon said he hopes the township can avoid more layoffs.

"In the future, we would like to see the laid-off people come back," he said. "Our goal now is to keep people working and fighting against the privatization of our jobs."

Several council members also took part in the negotiations, Acropolis said.

"That is a first," he said. "I don't ever remember council members being as involved in negotiations as this year."

The township offered the union a threeyear contract back in September 2008 with wage increases for 2008, 2009 and 2010 in the amount of 2.6 percent, 2.85 percent and 3 percent, respectively, which the union membership rejected at the time.

The union later filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the state Public Employment Relations Commission in December.

Menshon declined to discuss whether the complaint was still current.

"I'm not going to discuss that," he said Monday night. "I think it's important my members know we will continue to fight against privatization and outsourcing."

The union in December asked PERC for an injunction to stop the pending layoffs. A PERC hearing officer later denied the request.

"I believe this [the new contract] will put us on a sound financial footing from now on," Acropolis said Monday.