City Reaches Contract Agreement With Police, AFSCME

The city of Salem announced Monday that it has finalzied contracts with both the Police Patrolmen’s Association and AFSCME Local 1818. Both agreements run from FY12 through FY14 and include a 6% increase in wages over the life of the contract.

The contract agreements come on the heels of the city reaching an agreement with the Salem Firefighters.

Similar to the firefighters contract, these two agreements include language that modifies sick leave buyback benefits and those who are eligible.

Meaning that starting in January, new hires will not be eligible for any sick leave buyback at retirement. Instead, those employees will be permitted to buyback up to two days per year each January at a capped rate only if the employee has not used 50% of his or her sick leave time available, according to release.

“I thank AFSCME and the Police Patrolmen for their cooperative approach to these negotiations,” Mayor Kimberley Driscoll said in a release. “This new contract provides for a fair and reasonable wage increase, while also curbing costly sick leave buyback policies that will save both the City and taxpayers money moving forward.”

These contracts also include language that offers a voluntary program to existing employees to buyback sick days before retirement. This provision allows employees to buyback a portion of their time sooner but at a lower rate than they would otherwise at retirement. These provisions will significantly reduce the city’s long term sick leave buyback costs which this year exceeds $700,000.