Lansing Town approves union contract at Bolton Point

Workers at Bolton Point — the water system servicing the towns of Dryden, Ithaca and Lansing, as well as the villages of Cayuga Heights and Lansing — could have a new union contract next year.

Judy Drake, the town of Ithaca’s human resources manager, presented a walkthrough of the proposed contract at the Dec. 20 Lansing Town Board meeting, noting that all five municipalities in the Bolton Point collective bargaining agreement must approve the contract. Workers at  Bolton Point unionized in the 2000s, Drake said, under the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) Local 2300.

“At that point, it was decided the member municipalities had to approve the union contracts,” Drake said.

Each municipality is entitled to two seats on the Bolton Point commission, one of which must be filled by a member of the respective town or village board.

Bolton Point workers’ current contract is set to expire at the end of December, according to documents submitted online by the town board. A new agreement would cover workers until 2026.

A resolution approved by the board on Dec. 20 noted that negotiating teams for both sides reached a tentative agreement Dec. 4. Workers then ratified the contract on Dec. 11. 

During the discussion section of the presentation, board members noted they had no questions about the contract. 

“It looked pretty straightforward to me,” said board member Ruth Groff, who is set to become Lansing town supervisor in 2024.

UAW Local 2300 President Christine Johnson did not respond to a message requesting comment on how the contract improves working conditions at the plant, but a snapshot of the contract uploaded by the town board offers a glimpse into some of the changes of the proposed bargaining agreement for 2024-2026. 

Starting Jan. 1, if the contract is approved, wages for employees covered in the bargaining agreement would rise by 6%. They would then increase by 5% from the 2024 rate the year after that, and 4% from the 2025 rate in 2026. Negotiators also agreed to move certain positions into different classifications in Bolton Point’s pay structure.

Both sides also agreed to establish and modify some details surrounding longevity pay. Longevity payments are made annually to employees based on tenure.

The new agreement would see employees who have worked at Bolton Point for five to nine years receive $250 as a longevity payment. Workers with 10-14 year tenures would receive $500, up from $425. Those with 15-19 year tenures would see their longevity payments raised from $525 to $650. At 20-24 years tenure, employees would receive a $750 longevity payment, up from $625, and those with a tenure of 25 years or longer would receive $850.

Workers also secured an increase in rate for some holiday pay. Employees who work on a holiday as part of their regular shift currently receive 1.5 times their hourly wage. Workers laboring on Memorial Day, Thanksgiving or Christmas are set to make double their hourly rate for hours worked on any of those holidays.

The document provided by the Lansing Town Board can be viewed in its entirety here: https://mccmeetingspublic.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/lansingny-meet-ebaca5207c65441780b469717cdad340/ITEM-Attachment-001-8cd7c1eaf0624e97bf5d11d633709ec3.pdf

Bolton Point, or the Southern Cayuga Lake Intermunicipal Water Commission, was created for the common benefit of its five municipalities to provide high-quality water at the lowest possible cost. “The commission insists on maintaining its status as a successful example of municipal cooperation,” the commission’s website states.

The commission was initially built with an $8 million budget in 1976. At that time, Bolton Point was planned to have three core operating functions: a raw water intake system, a water treatment plant and a transmission system.

Bolton Point’s website highlights the system’s efficiency, noting that plant operation, transmission and distribution, pipeline maintenance and metering and billing are performed by 21 full-time employees. 

The plant, all 25 storage tanks, 19 pumping stations, 11 control valve stations and 25 main pressure-reducing valves are operated by automated remote devices to ensure constant monitoring, adequate supply and proper quality standards.

Lansing at Large appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com. Contact Eddie Velazquez at edvel37@gmail.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @ezvelazquez.

In brief:

The Lansing Community Library will host the January meeting of its book club for adults on Jan. 9 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

“Come meet like-minded individuals for insightful discussions on literary works,” reads a statement on the library’s website. “The book selection for January, ‘We Begin at the End’ by Chris Whitaker, is a captivating read that has been highly recommended by many!”