Municipal officials mum on TWU deal

Next discussion of Howell contract set for January

BY TOYNETT HALL Staff Writer

Anew contract agreement has not been reached between Howell officials and the Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 225, which represents certain municipal employees. It was previously reported that details of the deal were going to be released at the Dec. 16 meeting of the Township Council.

However, that did not happen.

According to Christopher Mikkelson, president of TWU Local 225, “The township reviewed the tentative agreement and decided not to vote on it.”

When Howell Township Manager Helene Schlegel was asked why no action was taken on the deal for municipal employees, she said, “I cannot release any details regarding any tentative agreements or union negotiations. We are continuing to negotiate and have a meeting set for January.”

No details of the apparent deal are being released until the contract has been ratified by the union membership.

Mikkelson said that over the past 10 years, this is the third time the TWU has had to go to mediation with Howell representatives after failing to reach an agreement through initial negotiations. He said the nature of each contract’s negotiations is different and acknowledged that reaching an agreement is more difficult in these challenging economic times.

Initial negotiations between the parties stretch back to the spring but failed to produce an agreement after 10 Howell municipal employees — eight from the Department of Public Works and two from the Department of Engineering and Code Enforcement — were let go earlier this year.

The TWU represents 14 employers in Monmouth and Ocean counties. The union has 1,200 members; 125 are from Howell.

While there have been no additional layoffs of union members in Howell, officials in neighboring municipalities such as Brick Township are feeling the pinch of the downturn in the economy.

With a $4 million hole in their municipal budget, Brick officials are preparing to lay off as many as 53 employees to deal with the situation, according to published reports.

Brick’s Department of Public Works may bear the brunt of those layoffs.