UE NEWS Updates

Trumbull, CT

The support staff for the Trumbull Board of Education, members of UE Local 222/CILU Sub-local 21, have overwhelmingly ratified a new four-year contract. Gross wages will increase by 3.5 percent per year, a total of 14 percent over four years. The first raise is retroactive to July 1, 2007.

Health insurance costs were a major issue, and members were able to limit increases in cost sharing to only a few percent. Employee contributions will be 11 percent, 12 percent, 13 percent and 13 percent, respectively, in the four years of the new contract. 

Tolland, CT

Tolland County Fire Dispatchers, members of UE Local 222/CILU Sub-local 76, have negotiated and ratified a new four-year contract. Bucking the national trend, these workers gained retiree medical insurance for the first time, while substantially increasing their wages.

The new agreement, which goes into effect July 1, 2008, will provide each worker, after retirement, with up to $800 for medical insurance. If the policy costs more than that, the retiree will pay the difference.

Iowa City, IA 

We reported in the December 2007 UE NEWS that the University of Iowa had sued UE Local 896/COGS, in an attempt to escape their obligations under contract language they agreed to earlier last year, specifically language requiring them to give the union job information about employees the union represents.