Orland Park trustees to vote on employee contract
By Mike Nolan mnolan@southtownstar.com December 14, 2012 7:54PM
Orland Park employees represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees demonstrate outside Orland Park Village Hall on Monday prior to a village board meeting. | Mike Nolan~Sun-Times Media.
Updated: January 17, 2013 6:39AM
Orland Park trustees on Monday night will vote on a contract with public works and parks and recreation department employees that would grant raises totaling 7.8 percent over four years.
About 70 village workers, including police telecommunications employees, would be covered by the contract with Local 368 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
The contract would provide a 1.75 percent pay raise retroactive to May 1, 2011, and a 2 percent raise retroactive to May 1, 2012. A 2 percent wage hike would occur next May 1, and 2.05 percent increase in the final year.
The pact also would increase employees’ costs for participating in preferred-provider health care plans and use incentives to steer them toward consumer-directed and managed-care plans, according to a synopsis of the agreement. Employees would have to participate in annual health assessment screenings to qualify for the best insurance rates, according to the agreement.
At a village board meeting in October, the union workers protested being without a contract since May 2011. Shifting more of the cost of medical coverage to employees was a major sticking point in the contract talks, an AFSCME representative said at that meeting.
Under the contract, employees would have a selection of health care plans, with varying costs. For workers who select a consumer-driven plan, such as a health care savings account, the village would fund 40 percent of the deductible.
