Accepted contract puts highway employees on one insurance
by JESSICA L. FINCH Associate Editor

Both the Amherst Town Board and Highway Employee Association have accepted the terms of a new contract.

Announced Friday, the new pact will save the town approximately $50,000 monthly. The cost was associated with not having the employees on one insurance provider.

The contract had been unsettled since Jan. 1, 2006.

The new agreement includes putting the employees on one insurance provider, which is currently Independent Health. The employees accepted a single Provider Passport health insurance.

Also, the employees who have paid zero percent toward their insurance were put on a timeline that would take them to 10 percent by Dec. 31, 2010. New hires will pay 15 percent.

The town estimates that these two changes will save $625,000 annually by having the employees on one provider, as well as $100,000 by having the employees pay a small percentage of their premium.

"Some of the concepts that we agreed to are good beginnings for the future of Amherst and perhaps for other municipalities," Supervisor Satish Mohan said in a statement released after the board's acceptance.

AHEA President Chris O'Neill said it took some explaining, but the employees accepted that they would be paying for a percentage of the health insurance.

"The major concern is that it's 10 percent of the premium and what's to say that won't keep going up?" O'Neill said, noting that is a common concern across the country.

Unsettled for 20 months, the contract agreement does include retroactive payments, O'Neill said. Employees have started the application process. A total dollar amount may not be known for some time as several factors are being reviewed.

O'Neill said the association had to drop two requests - insurance costs for retired employees and insurance for domestic partners.

His concern with the first is that employees will stay longer, be paid more and not produce as much work as someone 40 years younger could. The association wanted employees to pay 15 percent and the town wanted 30. That item was removed.

O'Neill said he expects policy changes on domestic partner rights to change across the board eventually.

With the contract finally settled, O'Neill said the process wasted a lot of time and money.

"Mohan publicly said he will not negotiate contracts anymore; that is big. I am happy he won't be," he said, adding that other union presidents said they are thankful they will not have to go through the same process as the highway employees.