MOUNT VERNON — Mount Vernon Safety-Service Director Dave Glass said city employees will work into the new year under contract extensions after their current three-year contracts expire Jan. 1, 2009.
Glass said negotiations with the three unions representing the employees are at different stages of the contract process. One union, the Dan Emmett Chapter of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, represents municipal workers outside of the police and fire departments.
Local OCSEA president John May, a streets department foreman, said the talks between the city and the union are going well.
“It’s going as good as could be expected for the times,” May said. “We have to go over things we discussed and make sure we’re in agreement.”
He said the current contract will be extended until the new contract is finalized.
Glass characterized the talks with the civil service union representatives as 90 percent finalized.
Glass said he believes it will take the better part of January to work out details with the local firefighter’s union.
“We’re about a third of the way there,” Glass said.
He said wording issues in the new contract still need to be worked out.
“Wages are always the last thing you negotiate,” he added.
Mount Vernon Firefighter Rick Cantrell, president of Local 3712 of the International Association of Firefighters/Ohio Association of Professional Firefighters, declined to comment on the negotiations at this time.
Glass said the city has its first scheduled talks with the local Fraternal Order of Police union next week. No one from the police union could be reached for comment.
Glass said the current economy does have an effect on the amount of money the city can negotiate for wages.
“There’s no massive amounts of income increased,” Glass said of the city budget. “My advice [to the unions] would be, be reasonable in what you ask for.”
