JAY — Selectmen and a union representing the town’s transfer station workers have ratified a three-year contract. There is no retroactive pay involved in the contract that dates back to July 1, 2011.

Selectmen voted to approve the contract on April 29 after it went to arbitration earlier this year.

A shop steward was not available for comment on the pact on Thursday or Monday.

There will be three employees under the current contract, as of May 11. There were initially five employees when negotiations began, but in an effort to become more efficient, one person was laid off earlier this year, Town Manager Ruth Cushman said Thursday. There was a vacancy at the Highway Department, and the individual transferred to that department.

A second employee will be laid off as of May 10.

Department supervisor Todd Hiscock is not covered under the agreement.

Workers are currently in the second year, 2012-13, which gives workers a 1.5 percent pay increase. They will also get a 1.5 percent raise in the third and final year, which expires June 30, 2014.

Employees have been working under a contract that expired June 30, 2011.

The first year of the 2011-12 pact would have given employees a 1 percent pay increase, but they chose to give up retroactive pay in lieu of a boot allowance and other items.

“We could not come to an agreement on some other items, so selectmen said to offset the costs associated with the boot allowance and not having the flexibility to change hours at the Transfer Station, they would not agree to retroactive pay,” Cushman said.

The steel-toe boot allowance is up to $200 each year, in addition to the yearly $400 work clothes allowance, which is paid through payroll and taxed, she said. Workers will have to purchase the steel-toe boots and submit a receipt for reimbursement.

The big issue on which arbitrators ruled against the town was setting work hours, Cushman said.

“We wanted the flexibility to set them, and because they are set out in the contract, we could not change them,” she said. “They wanted us to set a plan and then have it reviewed. Because we were not sure exactly what we wanted, we were ruled against in favor of keeping current language.”

The union wanted a schedule of hours, but the town officials had not yet determined them.

“Throughout this process, we became aware of how overstaffed we were compared to almost every other transfer station,” Cushman said. “We also became aware that we are the only town that runs a municipally operated curbside service with municipal workers for pick up of solid waste and recyclables. We also became aware that most services run with only two people on their trucks. During discussion at arbitration time, the union also acknowledged this.”

The town’s transfer station operates six days a week. The employees work five days a week on a rotating schedule, sometimes working Saturday shifts where they receive overtime, Cushman said.

The reduction in manpower is not going to affect the service residents receive, she said.

“We value the service that the employees at the Transfer Station and on the truck give to residents of Jay,” Cushman said. “We want to continue to give the people what they want for services, and we will continue to look at the operation to make it the best bang for the buck that we can give the citizens. We will be looking at other cost savings in the future.”

dperry@sunjournal.com

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