By Jennifer Gomori, POJ Editor

When several Harrison Township Employees threatened to leave their former union, Local Stewards knew they had to act fast. 

“The whole reason behind our change was half of our members had said they were ready to leave the union because they were dissatisfied with AFSCME,” said Harrison Township Chapter Chair Paula Phillis. “I think in the past they were interested in changing bargaining units, but they were just scared of making the change.”

After over a decade with AFSCME, Phillis checked with neighboring municipalities about their representation, but the GELC went one step further than their competitors. “(GELC Labor Rep.) Joe Stone reached out to us to see if we’d be interested in a change,” she said. “We didn’t think it would be feasible since it was so late with our contract. Thankfully, Joe was a big help with that. (GELC Membership Services Rep.) Chris Watts met with us virtually and they walked us through the whole entire process.”

The 21-member group voted unanimously to join the GELC in late October 2023. “The contract expired Dec. 31st while all of this was going on,” Phillis said. “We were very lucky the Township was very understanding of the transition. They allowed the contract to still be place.”

“We drew up a Letter of Understanding with the Township. They gave them a 5% raise for 90 days,” Stone said. “If we didn’t get the contract done in 90 days, they would revert back to their old wages and we actually got the contract done.”

Their 4-year agreement was ratified March 26, 2024 and brought in 14 percent wage increases, plus starting pay hikes for several positions and added pay for licensing and certification. In fact, the Township agreed to pay for costly water and sewer training and testing to acquire S-licenses and CDL-A and CDL-B certifications. 

The contract includes one additional Holiday and one added day off for July 4th, Christmas and New Year’s, depending on which days the Holidays fall on. Paid Vacation Time was adjusted to Employees’ anniversary dates instead of having to wait until the following Jan. 1. The Employer also provides a monthly contribution boost each contract year to Employees’ MERS retirement plan.

“We’ve had more contact with Joe Stone in one month than we did with (our ASFCME Rep.) in 4 years,” Phillis said. “The resources, when it comes to negotiating and things like that, it was really helpful to us. We went to a training just recently for Stewards. We just got invited to the (Annual Conference) in Traverse City. Just the inclusion — we’re just very satisfied with them.”