4 of 5 Nashua police unions reach tentative collective bargaining agreements – their first since June 2011

NASHUA – The Nashua Police Commission has approved tentative collective bargaining agreements with four of the city’s five police unions. As it continues to negotiate with the Nashua Police Patrolman’s Association, tentative agreements with the Nashua Police Department’s three civilian unions, as well as the Nashua Police Supervisors Association – made up of sworn officers – will be sent on to the Board of Aldermen for final approval. The city’s five police unions have been operating without a new contract for nearly two years; the four tentative agreements would last from June 1, 2011, through June 30, 2014, if approved. “Negotiations had gone for quite some time but I think with those four, I think they’re reasonable and something that we can certainly live with and hopefully we get them approved,” said Nashua Police Chief John Seusing on Wednesday. The most significant changes to the tentative police contracts are health care concessions, similar to those that nine other unions in the city have already made. Two years ago, Mayor Donnalee Lozeau asked employees to assume 10 percent or more of the cost of their health care plans, increasing their share to 20-30 percent, depending on coverage, in order to meet the rising costs of health care. “It was certainly a much talked about part of the negotiations,” Seusing said of the union’s health care concessions, “but certainly that was not the only thing that we spoke about. Certainly wage increases is always a big piece of it, and I think certainly all the unions knew and accepted that these health care concessions were going to be part of the tentative agreement that was made. … At no time did the unions say, ‘We weren’t going to accept that.’ ” If the Board of Aldermen approves the four contracts – which account for approximately 120 police employees, Seusing estimated – the patrolmen will be the last in the city to approve a contract since Lozeau called for the concessions. The patrolmen association consists of approximately 130-140 employees, Seusing said. “That’s still ongoing, and hopefully we get that resolved here very soon,” he said. Along with health care concessions, the four unions with tentative agreements will see varying wage increases. According to meeting minutes from the police commission’s March 18 session, police communications employees will see 1.5 percent “grid” or step increases for fiscal 2014; Teamsters will get $600 increases for fiscal 2012 and 2013 and a $925 increase for 2014; UAW professional employees will see 3.5 percent increases for fiscal 2014; and members of the supervisors association will get increases ranging from 1 to 2.2 percent from fiscal 2012 to fiscal 2014 depending on their position. Other non-monetary benefits include business casual dress days for communication employees from Friday through Sunday; the ability for Teamsters to supplement worker’s compensation benefits with accrued vacation and sick time; and the addition of stepgrandchildren to the UAW professional union’s bereavement leave. Contracts for 14 of the city’s 15 unions expired June 30, 2011. By December of that year, nine unions – about half of the city’s 2,800-person workforce – still remained without new contracts. In October 2011, unions with new deals, including teachers, school food service workers, school secretaries, school custodians and public library employees, and the city’s non-unionized employees, were already paying more in health care costs in exchange for $1.6 million being restored to expenses cut in their respective budgets. Other unions that signed deals after Oct.