COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – A sometime contentious contract dispute between Branch County Commissioners and the union representing Branch County 911 dispatchers has come to an end.
The Branch County Board of Commissioners approved a tentative agreement with the Police Officers Association of Michigan Tuesday after commissioners went into a 20 minute executive session to discuss the 911 union negotiations.
County Administrator Bud Norman says the union ratified the agreement last Thursday. A mediation session was held after earlier negotiations failed to produce an agreement.
Norman says an agreement was not produced from the mediation session but the two sides worked out the contract afterwards.
He says it’s a three year deal that will run through the end of 2019.
Up until the agreement, Branch County 911 dispatchers had been working without a contract since the end of 2015.
A two tier pay rate system was the main sticking point during the negotiations as dispatchers claimed it did not promote long term employment. Norman says the system has been modified. There is also compensation for training along with improved wages and benefits.
Several other concerns were raised by dispatchers during commission meetings in March and April. But Commissioners were not happy with the dispatchers union because they felt contract issues were being addressed in the local news media and not at the bargaining table.
