ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Lehigh County officials and union representatives say they’ve worked out a new labor contract that will bump union workers’ pay each year and expand the county’s holiday schedule.
County Executive Phil Armstrong called the new contract — which still must be approved by commissioners — a “pretty good compromise.”
- The new contract, if approved, would give almost 130 union members annual raises
- Lehigh County commissioners will introduce the proposed contract Wednesday
- They could approve the contract as early as June 14
Lehigh County commissioners are set to introduce the proposed contract at their meeting at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday before discussing it in executive session, Armstrong said.
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The contract could be approved as early as June 14, though that process would likely be delayed if commissioners propose any changes.
Andy Hilt, internal organizing business agent for SEIU Local 668, said the union secured “pretty decent” pay increases for members in the four-year contract, which runs from 2023 through 2026.
Almost 130 union members who work in Lehigh County’s Mental Health Program and Children and Youth Services office will be paid 4% more in 2023 and 3.5% more in 2024, Hilt said.
They stand to see 3.25% pay raises in 2025 and 2026 if the contract is approved as proposed.
'Contract we can live with'
Those raises will help union employees with rising costs of living, but not entirely. The Social Security Administration announced in October 2022 that it would increase recipients’ payments 8.7% in 20213 to “keep pace with inflation.”
Lehigh County officials also agreed to make Juneteenth a paid holiday for union members, Hilt said.
"I think it's a contract we can live with. The important thing is we have a budget, that we have to stay within our limits, too. And I think the union understood that."Lehigh County Executive Phil Armstrong
Juneteenth, observed on June 19, was established as a federal holiday in 2021 to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved African-Americans.
SEIU Local 668 members voted to approve the new contract “by a wide margin” earlier this year, Hilt said. Negotiations were mostly complete several months ago, but minor details needed to be ironed out, he said.
Local 668 members have been working under the terms of their previous labor agreement with Lehigh County for the first five months of 2023, Armstrong said.
Almost half of the county’s workforce is not part of a union, Armstrong said, noting the proposed contract applies only to SEIU Local 668 members.
Though a contract wasn’t in place to start the year, negotiations “have gone well between the administration and union,” Armstrong said, adding he’s “hoping for no surprises” at the commissioners’ meetings.
"Without the union in place, we would not have had the right to sit down with the county."Andy Hilt, internal organizing business agent for SEIU Local 668
“I think it's a contract we can live with,” Armstrong said. “The important thing is we have a budget, that we have to stay within our limits, too. And I think the union understood that.”
Hilt said it is “vital that people join and support unions” because they act as “a collective voice for workers.”
“Without the union in place, we would not have had the right to sit down with the county” to negotiate over pay and working conditions, Hilt said. “It would be at the whim of the county.”
