labor Paterson Eyes $25,000 Minimum Wage For Municipal Workers

Patterson, New Jersey proposes $25,000 for municipal workers in new contract. There are other parts of this contract that could be better but this is a major step forward for low paid workers.

Joe Malinconico Patterson Press
Printer friendly  

PATERSON – In their negotiations with city unions, Paterson officials are working to establish a new minimum wage of $25,000,  an effort to boost salaries that are so low that dozens of full-time municipal employees quality for various forms of public assistance

Three proposed union contracts scheduled for approval by the City Council next week all include clauses that boost full-time workers’ salaries to that minimum. One of those contracts is for blue-collar workers in the Department of Public Works (DPW) and the president of that union says 96 of its 189 members currently earn less than $25,000.

“It’s hard to live off that,” said Michael Jackson, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees local that represent the rank-and-file DPW workers.

The $25,000 minimum clause also is included with proposed contracts for white-collar city workers and library staff members. Business Administration Charles Thomas said the same threshold would be set in all city contracts as they get settled. He said Mayor Jeffery Jones set the municipal minimum wage as a goal back in 2011 when he reviewed employees’ salaries.

“We’re trying to allow our employees to make as least a modest living,” Thomas said. “It’s difficult to support your family on $19,000 or $20,000 a year.”

City payroll records show that about 140 full-time workers make less than $25,000. Another 140 city employees are paid between $25,000 and $30,000.

“We recognize that too many of our employees can’t afford some basis life necessities,” said City Council Finance Chairman Kenneth Morris. “The issue for me is that the majority of these employees are those who actually live in the city.”

Morris said officials were investing in Paterson by giving municipal employees who live in the city better salaries. “This money comes back to Paterson through their property taxes and the money they spend at local businesses,” Morris said.

Morris said he was troubled because many of the highest paid people on Paterson’s payroll live elsewhere. For example, he said, the law requires newly hired firefighters and police officers to be Paterson residents. But then it allows them to move elsewhere after a year, he added.

If you like this article, please sign up for Snapshot, Portside's daily summary.

(One summary e-mail a day, you can change anytime, and Portside is always free.)

Morris said Paterson would be better off if more of its workers lived in the city. He suggested city government to consider implementing a bonus program that would pay workers who live in Paterson an extra stipend of one- or two-percent.

Some officials and union leaders said it was difficult for Paterson to find qualified applicants when salaries offered elsewhere for similar jobs were higher. “You know the state was hiring for over $25,000,” said Hazel Hughes, president of the white collar workers’ union.

The union contracts up for approval cover a three-year period dating back to July 1, 2011. Under the agreements, all union members would have their salaries boosted to $25,000, retroactive to the start of the contract. In general, other employees would not get raises for that first year.

In the second year of the contract, workers who did not get raises for the first year would then get two-percent increases. For the DPW and library unions, employees who had their salaries boosted to $25,000 in the first year would not get raises in the second year. For the white collar workers, there would be no raises in the second year for those who had been making less than $24,500 in July 2011 and had their salaries boosted to $25,000 in the first year of the contract. But those white collar union employees making $24,500 or more would get two-percent increases.

In the third year, which started last July, all workers in all three unions would receive two-percent increases.

Officials said the retroactive pay for the workers would cost several hundred thousand dollars.

The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs must approve all of Paterson’s union contracts as part of an agreement providing the city with transition aid from the state. Thomas said the state has signed off on the contracts and approves of the plan to set the $25,000 minimum for full-time workers.