Sheldon, Iowa — The City of Sheldon and the union that represents employees in two Sheldon city departments have reached an agreement on a new contract.
City Manager Sam Kooiker says the employees covered by this collective bargaining agreement work in the Police and Public Works departments.
(As above) “The City has 31 full-time employees. Fourteen of those employees are part of the collective bargaining unit. So we have Public Works employees and six police officers that are subject to the collective bargaining, or union, rules.”
Kooiker says the contract was completed on a shorter timetable than had originally been planned.
(As above) “What we came up with…it was a very short, intense process that didn’t start until January due to the Fall 2020 Union Retention Election…and then there was illness in the Negotiating Team.”
He says the new agreement is a five-year contract that includes modest salary increases.
(As above) “We did come up with a five-year contract. And the five-year contract has a 3.0% increase for police the first year, then the remaining four years are 2.75%, 2.75%, 2.5% and 2.5%. And with public works for the first year it’s a quarter point less than police, with the remaining four years for public works being the same as police, because they’re now a merged unit.”
Kooiker says the portion of the contract involving health insurance may be revisited during the life of the contract, under certain specific conditions.
(As above) “For health insurance, we included a re-opener in case the premiums go up by ten percent on a straight average renewal over the next three years, so we can have a re-opener in the third year. We’re also in the process of promoting two (police) sergeants and AFSCME, the union, agreed to stipulate or support an amendment to the bargaining unit to remove the sergeants from the union.”
