After working for five months without an agreement, River Forest public works employees have a new three-year contract with the village.
Although negotiations with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 took longer than recent bargaining sessions with the unions representing employees in the River Forest Police and Fire departments, agreement between the village and the public works union was reached more quickly this time than the previous contract negotiations, when employees worked for over a year and half without a contract.
The new three-year contract was approved unanimously by the five trustees present at the Sept. 22 village board meeting. Trustee Lisa Gillis did not attend.
Under the new agreement, which union members approved earlier in September. public works employees will receive wage increases of 5.5 percent in the first year and 4 percent increases in the second and third years.
Local 150 represents nine public works employees.
In a memo to Matt Walsh, village administrator, Trish Ivansek, human resources manager, said the increases are contingent on the union switching to the village’s health insurance plan.
“Currently, the village pays 100 percent of the premium costs for the union’s insurance plan,” she said. “The benefits are also designed to bring salaries more in line with comparable organizations and to aid in future recruitment efforts.”
Walsh said he was “pleased” with the contract.
“It was a great result moving forward,” he said.
Ivansek said the agreement includes structural changes to job classifications with the maintenance worker I and II roles consolidated into a single maintenance worker category, and the title of crew leader changing to foreman.
The term of the new agreement spans from May 1, 2025, through April 30, 2028. The agreement keeps all three unions representing village employees under contract. The three-year contract with the union representing police officers expires next year and a three-year contract with the union representing fire department employees expires in 2027.