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Non-union city workers get retroactive pay raise
(by Sue Reid - February 29, 2012)
Non-union city workers get retroactive pay raise
By SUE REID
Solon City Council approved an ordinance last week providing for a pay raise up to 2.75 percent this year for city employees who are not covered by collective-bargaining agreement.
The raise, which is retroactive to Jan. 1, is the same percentage that was granted to each of the union contracts, Human Resource Director Thomas Cornhoff said. "We asked council to give all non-bargaining employees the same amount." He noted that some of them may get less than the 2.75 percent but not more.
Other items are negotiated in the bargaining agreements, "but, from my perspective, I've tried to keep health care and wages equal," he said. "There are certainly other areas that get negotiated that the non-bargaining units do not get."
In determining the raises for the non-bargaining employees, Mr. Cornhoff said, "we take a look at what the unions get and get input from our finance director, if we can afford it, and then a recommendation is made.
"At the time the union contracts are negotiated, the economy may be doing better," he said, "but you never know about that third year. You want to make sure it can be done," which is why the finance director's input is sought, he said.
All union contracts expire at the end of 2012. With the exception of the correction officers at the Solon Jail, who did not get a raise for 2010, the rest of the union contracts received increases of 2.5 percent for 2010 and 2011.
Mr. Cornhoff said some communities are giving no raises, and some giving up to 3 percent. "It just depends on each community's financial position," he said.
In Solon, Mayor Susan A. Drucker has made some significant reductions in staffing, which has enabled the city to give out the raises, he said. "This is what the administration and council felt comfortable with."
Mr. Cornhoff said that determining which full-time employees receive the full 2.75 percent raise and which one receive less is based on a recommendation to the mayor by the department heads. For part-timers, the directors look at their budgets to see what they can afford, he said.
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