Details of Million Dollar Salary Negotiations Coming This Week

Final numbers of the salary negotiations between the Town of Harrison and five labor unions are expected to be revealed this Thursday.

Details on the agreement have been kept under wraps until then in order to give town attorneys a chance to finalize wordings in the newly negotiated contracts and for each union to approve them, according to members of the Town Board.

Harrison Councilman Joe Cannella told the Harrison Patch in April that the town and unions had come to an agreement that would shed the required $1 million from the budget, but has not provided exact details.

The announcement is expected to make public how much money the unions will directly give-back to the town and how much will be deferred to future years. Until this point, no town leader has commented on if the money saved is the result of a deferral or give-back, leading to growing curiosity as to how much the negotiations will actually help the town as it tries to move away from increases in property taxes in the future.

Cannella took on the negotiations when this year's budget was passed in late December 2009. At that time he said that he would enter in "good faith" salary negotiations with the unions that would shave $1 million from this year's budget, but avoid layoffs.

In April the town announced that it had come to terms with the Teamsters Union, Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), The Police Benevolent Association (PBA) and two smaller unions. At that time Cannella called the negotiations a success, thanking the unions for their cooperation.

"Everybody in the unions should be congratulated. It gives me a great sense of pride to know we have the type of person working in these positions across town, who will sacrifice for the good of their membership and the town as a whole. The effort of the unions' leadership was phenomenal, but the importance of each supportive vote was equally impressive," he said at the time.

But it was also announced that deferrals would be one of the options for union members, and it has not been clear as to exactly how much payment workers can expect returned in 2012.

"The options for the union members are broad," Cannella said in April. "They range from four-day working weeks in summer months, to unpaid vacation days, to uniform allowance deferrals and other give-backs."

One requirement was that the financial benefits manifest in the 2010 financial year. The deferrals will be paid back to members between 2012 and 2015.

Harrison Mayor/Supervisor Joan Walsh said on Tuesday that the final agreement is a three-year contract and that all numbers have now been finalized and will be announced during a previously unscheduled town board meeting at 5 p.m. in Town Hall.

Walsh added that the event will also be televised on channel 74 so that the final numbers are clearly available for anyone to see.