In an unprecedented collaboration between the City of Claremont, NH and the Police Union a new two-year Collective Bargaining Agreement was reached in only three negotiation sessions.
Led by President Lucas Finamore, Sgt. Chris Allen, Detective Richard Bell, and Executive Vice President Ron Scaccia, Local 217 focused their efforts strictly on salary and benefits. The team was able to convince the city of the dire straits facing the Local concerning under-staffing, losing certified officers to other departments, and the inability to attract qualified police candidates to the city. As such the city and the union agreed upon the largest salary increase in the history of the city without sacrificing any benefits. The agreement contained:
-10% COLA in the first year
-6% COLA in the second year
-$10.00 an hour increase in police detail pay
Both sides agreed to work on the current pay scale and the steps contained within, which is currently at 35 steps, to reduce the number of steps dramatically to get officers to the top wage scale much sooner.
President Lucas Finamore stated, “Our entire Executive Board is brand new and with the guidance of VP Ron Scaccia we were able to focus on the priorities for our members and convince the city that our needs went hand in hand with the cities needs.
Executive VP Ron Scaccia stated, “All three members of the Local’s Executive Board were the utmost professionals during negotiations. I firmly believe because of that they won the respect of the cities manager, attorney, and city councilor, and were rewarded with a huge monetary package. A 16% COLA over two years is unheard of in public police labor relations.