Borough workers without contract distribute flyers downtown, at Night Out as negotiations remain stalled

SHENANDOAH – Borough workers have been without a contract for about seven months and publicly called for borough officials to return to the negotiating table this week. Meanwhile, borough officials say “the ball is in their court.”

Workers from Shenandoah’s streets, sewer, and sanitation departments all donned green shirts bearing the logo of their union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), as they marched from Main and Centre to Shenandoah’s National Night Out on Tuesday.

Along the way, the workers passed out flyers in English and Spanish which they later posted to utility poles outside borough hall and throughout town.

“Borough Manager Mike Cadau has turned his back on the workers who provide the vital resources to the borough and continues to refuse to negotiate in good faith over our wages and working conditions since December,” the flyer reads. “We don’t want anything but to earn a living and preserve a decent retirement for when we can no longer work.”

Union staffers Neal Manning, a field coordinator, and Logan Billig, the representative assigned to Shenandoah Local 2838, shared background information with the Sentinel.

They said negotiations initially began in September and paused until the fall as audits were ongoing.

A formal offer was presented by the borough and rejected by union membership. Since then, they said the borough has been adamant against negotiating and that the borough has refused to respond to a state-appointed mediator.

“We’ve made multiple attempts to schedule sessions,” Manning said.

There are also pending unfair labor practice complaints relating to part-time employees being allegedly unlawfully terminated. The union representatives also say the borough’s part-time employees voted to join the union which the borough has refused to recognize.

A major issue, described as a “non-starter” by the union representatives, is a proposal to replace the borough’s nonuniform pension plan with a 401(k) with an employer match.

When reached for comment Tuesday evening, Cadau told the Sentinel that the borough has been awaiting a counteroffer from the union.

“It’s their opportunity now,” he said. “They have the ball. The ball is in their court.”

Cadau said his proposal to cap the pension plan would save the borough thousands of dollars each year.

He called the borough’s most recent proposal “honest and fair.”

“It raises all of their salaries up but it also looks out for the taxpayer,” Cadau added. “If we let these [Minimum Municipal Obligations] at the rate that it is, we’re going to be bankrupt.”

He said the pension costs are about $300,000 per year and estimated that a 401(k) with a 5% match would cost between $28,000 and $30,000 annually. However, about $100,000 per year would still be needed to cover employees already retired or vested in the pension plan, for a total cost of about $128,000 per year, saving $171,000.

Cadau also said that numerous ineligible employees have remained listed for the pension plan, leading to a higher required contribution by the borough.

Also included in the borough’s proposal is a raise contingent on the 401(k) proposal, effective for every position except secretary. For example, a streets department heavy equipment operator would make $26/hr with the pension plan or $28/hr with the 401(k) plan.

The union said the pension proposal is rooted in “management-level” issues that have nothing to do with the employees.

Meanwhile, borough employees continue to work without a contract. The union is asking residents to call borough hall to ask Cadau to negotiate a fair contract.

The union represents the borough’s non-police department workers.

The article Borough workers without contract distribute flyers downtown, at Night Out as negotiations remain stalled first appeared on The Shenandoah Sentinel.