Cohoes council OKs police contract
All city unions now under deals through 2019
COHOES, N.Y. >> Mayor Shawn Morse scratched a major item off his list of campaign promises Tuesday night with the ratification of a new contract with the last city employee union working under an expired deal.
The Common Counci l unani - mously voted at its regular meeting Tuesday night to accept a new agreement between the city and its police union. The threeyear deal includes annual 1.5 percent wage increases and includes a new provision that guarantees continued health insurance coverage for the family of any officer killed in the line of duty.
“My goal was to try to get all of the union contracts settled in my first year and we were able to get everybody other than the police,” said Morse. “We continued to negotiate in good faith, and, finally, we’ve come to a contract that’s fair and equal and equitable to all the other unions.”
Not only are all the city’s unions now under contract, but none of them will expire until after Morse completes his four-year term.
The council signed off in May 2016 on new, three-year contracts with bargaining units representing Department of Public Works employees, clerical staff and city firefighters. Each of those deals, which took effect Jan. 1, included raises similar to those given to the police union and made no changes to employee health insurance coverage.
“I think it’s awesome,” said Morse. “It certainly allows me to have more room to look into the future and know that we already settled the contracts with the unions.”
Having contracts in place also gives city officials a better idea of costs
it has to include in future city budgets.
“They are built into the budgets, which makes it a lot easier when we’re doing our budget process than it is if you don’t know what you’re going to have to pay them,” said Morse. “We wanted to control the outcome here in Cohoes, and certainly, I thank all of the unions for working with the city because they are partners with the city.”