BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Bethlehem Area School Board unanimously approved a three-year contract with the district's secretarial and clerical employees Monday.
Teamster Local 773 Clerical and Secretarial Employees ratified the agreement late last month after a three-day strike that coincided with the first day of school, Aug. 26.
The contract includes 5% raises each year of the contract with retroactive pay back to July 1. In the first year of the contract, the majority of Bethlehem Area secretaries will earn $27.66 an hour. By the last year, they will earn an hourly wage of $30.49.
Under the new contract, 12-month clerical employees see no changes to their health care costs. They pay $520 annually for single-person coverage or $780 annually for family coverage.
The contract includes 5% raises each year of the contract with retroactive pay back to July 1. In the first year of the contract, the majority of Bethlehem Area secretaries will earn $27.66 an hour.
The contract grants 12-month secretaries an additional two personal days, bringing the total to three. Secretarial employees maintain their 12 sick days and up to 20 vacation days from their previous contract.
The new contract also provides for a labor management committee of both district and union representatives that will meet at least three times each year to resolve any ongoing issues.
Dennis Hower, president of Teamster Local 773, told LehighValleyNews.com last month that labor management committee meetings would be scheduled after the contract was approved by school directors.
These upcoming meetings will address two remaining issues that were not resolved during bargaining, he said.
Those issues are related to filling vacancies and air-conditioning availability during the summer.
Teamster Local 773 is asking the district to take seniority into account when secretaries apply for open roles in BASD, Hower said.
The union is also asking BASD to keep air-conditioning on in the summer when members are working in the buildings, he added.
