After more than a year of talks, the city and Teamsters Local 251 have reached agreement on a three-year contract.

The agreement would become retroactively effective to July 1, 2015 and expire on July 1, 2018. It received the unanimous backing of the City Council’s Finance Committee on July 14 and is poised for passage by the full council later this month.

According to the fiscal impact statement attached to the contract’s ratification ordinance, the additional cost associated with the agreement would total nearly $542,000 over the three-year period. The vast majority of the figure, $462,000 is from salary increases.

The agreement provides for a retroactive 60-cent hourly raise for the fiscal year that ended June 30; a 40-cent hourly raise for the period between July 1 and Dec. 31 of this year; a 40-cent hourly raise for the period between Jan. 1, 2017, and June 30, 2017; and a 75-cent hourly raise for the period between July 1, 2017, and June 30, 2018.

Additionally, employees whose job duties require a commercial driver’s license, or CDL, receive a $1 per hour differential for maintaining that license.

David Robbins, Local 251’s contract coordinator, said the union pursued “across-the-board” hourly increases rather than percentage increases. Doing so, he said, provides equal benefit to those whose pay is on the lower end of the scale. He said the bargaining unit has approximately 117 members.

Lynn Furney, who was part of Local 251’s negotiating team, echoed Robbins.

“What I feel is this contract is very fair,” she said. “For the first time, the lower-paid employees will get the same hourly increase as the higher-paid.”

The previous Teamsters contract expired June 30, 2015, and the negotiations on a new pact at times became contentious. The union – along with members of the council, and other current and former civic leaders – took part in picketing outside City Hall in October of last year after an impasse in the negotiations.

At the time, Alan Torigian, business agent for Local 251, said the union and its membership were being “disrespected by the administration.” Mayor Allan Fung’s office, in a statement responding to the picketing, called it “nothing more than a publicity stunt.”

Some members of the council said they had reservations regarding some aspects of the agreement – specifically, that the union was not receiving enough – but would support it because Local 251’s members had given their approval.

“It is my opinion that this union has taken it on the chin year after year after year. People fail to realize that this union is the face of the city every day,” Ward 4 Councilman Mario Aceto said.

He added, “I guess if they’re happy with this contract, fine. But hopefully in the future, conditions will be better…Other than that, I’m not really happy with some of the things that are in here.”

Council President John Lanni echoed Aceto.

“The Teamsters, they’re the lowest paid union in the city of Cranston, and they do a yeoman’s job … Definitely they deserve more than they’re getting,” he said.

Lanni and Ward 1 Councilman Steve Stycos praised the union for pursuing the across-the-board hourly increases rather than percentage increases.

“I think it’s great that you did that,” Stycos said.

Ward 3 Councilman Paul Archetto called the Teamsters the “backbone of the city.”

“I know you had long negotiations with the admin, and I’m glad it worked out for you,” he said.

Citywide Councilman Michael Farina said the agreement “seems like a fair contract.”

“I appreciate the effort that the Teamsters make throughout the city,” Ward 2 Councilman Donald Botts told union representatives, also calling the contract “fair.”

Under new language in the agreement, employees hired after July 1, 2015, who have completed 10 years of service, are eligible to receive one-third of the value of their unused, accumulated sick leave up to a maximum of 35 days upon their departure. Employees hired before that date and meeting the same requirements are eligible to receive one-third of the value of up to 40 days.

Employees with 20 years of service hired after July 1, 2015, will be eligible for half of the value of up to 55 accumulate sick days. Twenty-year employees hired before that date are eligible for half of the value of up to 60 sick days.

The employee share of health care costs remains at 20 percent, with co-pays of $15 for office visits and specialists, $35 for urgent care visits, and $100 for emergency room visits.