MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – A new, one-year contract between unionized maintenance workers and the Mount Pleasant Board of Education does not include pay raises, the Mount Pleasant Morning Sun reported.
The group of five employees is represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, according to the Sun. The group had been working without a contract, but negotiations moved forward quickly after a new state law was passed that would have increased the employee contribution to their health care costs, a school official told The Sun.
"We had a contract in about three hours," Peter Trezise, assistant superintendent for human resources, told the school board recently, The Sun reported.
Mount Pleasant hired a private contractor to provide custodial services in 2010, but retained a small number of individuals for such work as building repair, major maintenance and snow removal, according to The Sun. An unfair labor practice charge related to that privatization is still before the Michigan Court of Appeals, Trezise said, according to The Sun.
SOURCE:
The (Mount Pleasant) Morning Sun, “Mt. Pleasant schools, maintenance staff agree to contract,” Oct. 20, 2011
FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, “Michigan $1 Billion Closer to ‘Benefits in Balance,’” Oct. 3, 2011
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