New Fire, Teamsters Union Contracts Ratified

Hampton selectmen ratified tentative agreements Monday night for three local unions, putting the finishing touches on another batch of new contracts that will go before the voters at town meeting in March.

The board unanimously OK’d a two-year deal for the local chapter of the Teamsters union and one-year deals for the two unions within the Hampton Fire Department.

The latter required a fact finding stage after negotiations weren't fruitful between June and October, and the board agreed to follow the fact finder's recommendation to seek a one-year deal that gives members of both fire unions a 1.25 percent increase in the salary schedule in addition to any eligible step advancements.

No other changes to the current contract were recommended by the fact finder, and Hampton Board of Selectmen Chairman Dick Nichols said the new fire deals are "in the best interest of the town" despite the combined $92,415 increase they represent in next year's budget.

Selectman Mike Pierce voted to ratify the tentative fire agreements — which Nichols said would be ratified by the unions Monday or on another day in the near future — even though he said he was "a little disappointed" they needed a fact finding stage to reach a deal.

The Teamsters' collective bargaining agreement — which affects employees at Town Hall, supervisory employees in the Hampton Public Works Department and civilian members of the Hampton Police Department — calls for a 1.25 percent across-the-board wage increase on both April 1, 2014, and April 1, 2015.

Nichols said the deal is projected to cost roughly $15,000 in 2014 and $32,000 in 2015. 

The proposed contract also features starting wage adjustments for two positions as well as decreases in new employees' health insurance contributions in order to make them "consistent" with the rates outlines in the recently-ratified police and Seacoast Education Association contracts, according to Nichols.

Six unions will have proposed contracts on the ballot in March: the fire unions, the Teamsters union, the police union, SEA, and the union for Hampton Public Works and Highway department employees. The DPW and highway employees are the only town employees currently working without a contract, and they have been doing so for seven years.