Mokena and its police union could be headed toward arbitration to hammer out a new contract after a mediation session Thursday failed to produce an agreement.
Though village administrator John Downs called Thursday’s three-hour meeting at village hall “a good session,” he said the two sides still are far apart on money matters. He declined to provide specifics on the sticking points between Mokena and Teamsters Local 700, which represents 25 police officers below the rank of sergeant.
“We weren’t able to resolve some of the open issues, and at this point I would suspect that (arbitration) is the direction it’s probably going to go,” Downs said.
A representative for the police union did not return a call for comment Thursday.
The union’s most recent contract with the village expired June 30, and the two groups have been negotiating since August. The union has the option to request further mediation or to enter into arbitration, where an arbitrator would hear both sides and hand down a binding agreement, Downs said. The arbitration process likely would begin in the next month or two if the union requests it, he said.
The village has been publicly pushing for concessions from both its unionized and nonunionized employees as it looks to trim its bottom line amid plunging tax revenues and lagging state payments. About 60 per c ent of Mokena’ s 80 employees belong to either Teamsters 700, which consolidated in January with the village’s former local, Teamsters Local 714, or the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, the village’s public works union.
Village officials already have slashed $1.15 million from Mokena’s general fund for this fiscal year, which runs through June, and still are struggling to plug a $300,000 hole this year and combat a projected $666,000 deficit for next year.
“We’re looking at the reality of the things we face and trying to balance that between represented and nonrepresented employees, asking for sacrifice,” Downs said.
Mokena began requiring its nonunion employees to pay for 10 percent of their health insurance premiums this year to help conserve cash. Some members of Local 700 and Local 150 also participated, but a clause in both contracts exempted employees who had HMO coverage. Reversing that exemption would have saved the village an additional $28,000 annually, Downs said.
The village also has offered incentives to employees who want to take early retirement or waive their health insurance coverage. So far, one employee has accepted a buyout and five have waived their health insurance, which trims $90,000 from the village’s expenses for next fiscal year, Downs said.
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