BY JOYCE BLAY
Staff Writer

LAKEWOOD - The township's residential population is growing, and so is the number of public employees in unions without new contracts.

Although the rank and file of Lakewood PBA Local 71 ratified a new agreement on June 24, giving members the same 4 percent pay increase received by members of the Lakewood Police Department Superior Officers Association a year earlier, neither side has signed off on the contract, according to Detective John Stillwell, president of the union. The previous PBA contract expired on Dec. 31, 2004.

Stillwell said that unless language in the new contract relating to the Jan. 1, 2006, implementation of a four-day-week, 10-hour-shift schedule is reworded to the satisfaction of PBA members, the entire agreement could go back to mediation. If it does, PBA members will not be alone.

After working without a new contract since the old one expired on Dec. 31, 2004, the rank and file of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 97, representing industrial and allied workers, rejected the township's offer of 3.8 percent per year for three years by a vote of 46-3. A mediation session failed to yield an agreement and the issue could go to a fact-finding commission if another mediation session is also unsuccessful, said Township Manager Frank Edwards.

Angel Jusino, chief shop steward for Lakewood Public Works, said a fact-finder would recommend what the township should give his union, but that township officials still had the option to reject the recommendation and offer what they decided was affordable. In contrast, police unions can go to binding arbitration, said Jusino.
On Sept. 7, members of Teamsters Local 469, representing supervisory and other professional personnel of the Public Works Department, voted to accept a new contract offered by the township. The union had been working under the terms of the old contract that expired on Dec. 31, 2003. The new contract was the result of mediation sessions as well.

The smaller number of supervisory personnel voted to accept an increase of 3.5 percent per year for three years instead of a 4 percent per year increase which would have put the entire department on a biweekly payment basis. Members of Teamsters Local 97 had already accepted a biweekly payment as a contract condition three years ago rather than lose out on a higher wage.
It just isn't fair, according to William Long, a shop steward in the Public Works Department who has worked there for five years.
"I can speak for my members," Long said. "We want to make what other townships make. We feel that for the size of Lakewood, we've been low-balled. A lot of us work part-time jobs to feed our families. We just want a decent wage."

The Township Committee amended the 2005 municipal budget to allow department heads to receive additional funding to address residents' quality of life issues. Even if the township funds the hiring of additional workers in his department, Long said it will be difficult to retain them at the salaries paid by the municipality.
"In Lacey, a truck driver makes over $52,000 a year as compared with a driver in Lakewood who has 25 years and makes maybe $42,000 to $43,000," he said. "I make only $32,000. We don't expect to get rich working for the township, but we deserve something more."

Public Works Director John Franklin said each municipality pays what it can afford. He also said this was not the first time the union had rejected the township's offer.

"The same thing happened the last time they had a contract," he said on Sept. 6. "They passed it the next time. This is nothing new with these guys, it's a pattern."

Edwards declined to provide the amount of the union's last pay increase under the old contract.

Township Committeeman Raymond Coles, who is the governing body's liaison to the Public Works Department, said he was unable to discuss ongoing contract negotiations. However, he expressed sympathy for the employees and for the residents whose tax money pays them.

"We have to be the protector of the township money and we're going to come to an agreement," Coles said. "It's a tough economic situation."