A new contract was overwhelmingly approved on Friday, which gives deputies of the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office an average wage increase of 3.4 percent over the next several years.
Wayne County Teamsters said the package, which runs retroactive from January 1st, 2016 to December 31st, 2021, and includes full-pay going back to 2016. That’s when the previous contract expired.
The deal comes after contract negotiations between the union and county were set to move to arbitration to determine pay raises for the years 2016 to 2017.
The union said in a press release Monday that the “record shows that recent arbitrator decisions would not have sufficiently corrected the wage disparity that existed between Wayne County and comparable area agencies. In addition, the arbitrator would not have the authority to rule on excessive hours issues.”
Chris Toole, Local 118’s secretary-treasurer and lead negotiator said the goal was to level things off for deputies. “We were heading toward arbitration, we continued our efforts through all available channels to win a position that was sufficient to bring back to the members for consideration. Our efforts with support from our stewards and entire unit to avoid a risky arbitrator decision paid off. The new agreement provides for an aggressive wage increase schedule and also generates relief with respect to excessive hours of work.”
Altogether it means more than $2 million with over $600,000 in retroactive pay for the deputies. Wayne County Administrator Rick House told the Finger Lakes Times that he was happy with the affirmative vote by the union to take on the new contract.
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