Mayor
PENNSYLVANIA
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711
(570) 208-4158- phone
(570 208-4101- fax
08/24/2011
CITY OF WILKES-BARRE ANNOUNCES COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT WITH POLICE BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION
WILKES-BARRE - After many months of negotiations, the City of Wilkes-Barre announces that a 5-year collective bargaining agreement between the city and the Police Benevolent Association has been signed. The CBA is retroactive to January 1, 2011 and will expire on December 31, 2015. The new CBA is a good deal for the city, the police union, and Wilkes-Barre residents.
Under the terms of the agreement, Wilkes-Barre police officers will be guaranteed a 3% raise in base salary each year through 2015. The city will pay police officers the 3% raise in base salary owed to them from January of this year to the present in future payrolls. The city also was able to negotiate changes in healthcare coverage for both active and future retired PBA members that will potentially save the city hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. Starting in 2012, a new, escalating contribution scale to healthcare coverage will be introduced for all active and retired members for all healthcare plans except the HMO Plus plan. The percentage of the contribution is based upon the level of participation in the HMO Plus healthcare plan. There will not be cost sharing for health insurance premiums for the HMO Plus plan effective January 1, 2012.
This new framework allows PBA members the flexibility to decide which health coverage plan is right for their personal and family healthcare needs as well as prudent financially. Through this framework, the city is able to fulfill its obligation to offer quality and cost-effective healthcare plans to its employees especially those that risk their lives on a daily basis to protect the citizens of Wilkes-Barre.
The city and the PBA have also mutually agreed to permit civilian employees of either the City of Wilkes-Barre or any other entity deemed appropriate by the city to monitor the surveillance cameras in the Command Center located at police headquarters or at other locations throughout the city. Wilkes-Barre police officers on modified work assignments will also be permitted to perform this work during the course of the three platoon shifts during a 24-hour period. As of now, there are no immediate plans for civilian personnel to resume monitoring the cameras. The language in the CBA merely provides the city the flexibility to make such administrative decisions during the life of the CBA.
"I am extremely proud of this collective bargaining agreement. It is the result of many months of good faith negotiations between the city administration and the leaders of the PBA to arrive at an equitable deal for all parties involved and the taxpayers of Wilkes-Barre," said Mayor Thomas M. Leighton, "I continue to be proud of the exemplary service of the men and women of the Wilkes-Barre Police Department for the often dangerous job that they do everyday and this CBA properly rewards them for their service."