Union-town strife rises as money grows tight

Every day, Joseph Kleponis drives by Town Common on his way to work at Wilmington High School.

Lately, the trip has made his blood boil.

The culprits? Hundreds of twinkling Christmas lights that have been hung in tree branches around the park.

To Kleponis, they represent dollars upon dollars in electricity costs -- money that will not be going into the wallets of the people he represents as president of the Wilmington Teachers Association.

"It may be a drop in the bucket, but it's symbolic," he said. "We have teachers working extra jobs just so they can buy presents for their kids, and the town is putting up Christmas lights. Maybe they should start thinking about investing in their schools by retaining these teachers, who are being devastated by low pay grades."

With the economy struggling to regain its footing, unions across the state are facing increased pressure to make sacrifices for the good of their communities.

But going without a raise or giving up a perk never has been popular. Now, it is setting town leaders and union officials on a collision course -- in some cases, even pitting union against union.

Case in point: Wilmington.

Eight of the town's 12 unions are renegotiating contracts. This week, the 10-member police superior officers union became the first to finalize a new deal.

The two-year contract grants them a 2.5 percent salary increase in fiscal 2011, but no raise this year.

Last month,

the Wilmington Teachers Association presented its more than 300 members with a similar deal: 0 percent this year, 2.25 percent next year.

They voted it down.

It is a picture that is emerging in communities across the state, according to Massachusetts Municipal Association Executive Director Geoff Beckwith.

"We have heard that many of the larger unions, especially the teachers, have been particularly resistant to ... efforts to moderate salary increases to avoid layoffs," he said. "We're being told that there is a lot of pressure from central offices onto local offices to keep a hard line and not grant concessions. The problem is that doesn't match up with the economic reality."

Beckwith pointed out that Massachusetts communities have faced $750 million in local aid cuts, while also tackling continued increases in fixed health-insurance and pension costs.

Massachusetts Taxpayers Association Executive Director Michael Widmer said many unions don't believe municipal officials when they tell them that the situation is only bound to get worse.

"There is a misunderstanding that some things will return to normal in fiscal 2011. That's just not the case," he said. "The unions have been slow to understand that we're talking about fundamental changes. Collective benefits always increasing, 3 to 4 percent raises, step increases -- those are products of an era that is ending. But eras don't end placidly."

Widmer predicts the union's continued resistance to changes in the financial landscape may worsen budgets in the long run, especially in communities that will seek to raise new revenue through Proposition 2 1/2 overrides.

"There will be resistance and resentment from taxpayers that the unions haven't done more," he said. "In terms of public support for local government, it's a problem."

In the foreseeable future, Widmer and Beckwith agreed, an unwillingness to make concessions will spell out only one thing.

"In most communities, any salary increase will require layoffs," Widmer said.

Kleponis, of the Wilmington Teachers Association, disagrees.

He said his teachers took issue with the lack of a raise this year because Wilmington is "in good fiscal shape" despite the economic downturn. He pointed to the $4.8 million that the town has amassed in free cash and the fact that services in Wilmington have remained largely unchanged.

"Looking at the reality of the position Wilmington is in, vis-...-vis other communities, the teachers thought it would be nice to get something this year," Kleponis said. "It would be nice to see some economic rewards for all of the hard, hard workers in town."

That would amount to poor financial planning, Town Manager Michael Caira argued. He said he has told anyone who points to Wilmington's flush free-cash account as a reason to give out raises that "this is not about profit-sharing."

"The message we're sending out is that we really have to be very conservative this year, in order to leverage whatever money we have going forward," he said. "It's not only about providing for the present, but also for the future."

Caira noted that all of the town's non-union personnel will not be receiving raises this year. The same is true in the School Department, Superintendent Joanne Benton said.

"Every employee in town is facing the burden of this vision to stuff money under the mattress," Kleponis shot back. "Certainly, there's an argument for saving money ... but we need some economic relief."

For now, a new bargaining team from the Wilmington Teachers Association is preparing to relaunch negotiations with school administrators on Thursday.

Benton said she remains "optimistic" that a deal can be reached.

"I think the previous bargaining team did a really fine job of getting what they could, given the financial issues both on the local and state level," she said. "I hope we can convince the new team that this is a good proposal. Frankly, if they don't take it now, I don't know if they will see this again."