13 Perkasie borough workers opt to join AFSCME union

[Omaha Steve]

I'm a proud AFSCME member. Local 251.

OS


http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b5_2unions.6849854apr11,0,4685257.story

Souderton Area has deal with district aides secretaries.

By Robert H. Orenstein Of The Morning Call
April 11, 2009
Thirteen workers for Perkasie's public works and electric departments have voted to join a union.

And in the nearby Souderton Area School District, officials this week announced tentative agreements with unions representing roughly 50 secretaries and 150 aides. The contract dispute between the district and the teachers union, which led to a strike that canceled 13 days of classes last September, remains unresolved, however, with a proposal still being developed through non-binding arbitration.

The Perkasie workers voted Monday to join the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the borough said in a statement. Contract negotiations will begin soon and could take several months.

The borough said it was disappointed with the vote.

''The union is not going to help us run the borough any better or improve the services we provide to borough residents,'' Perkasie Borough Manager Dan Olpere said in a statement. ''The employees provide the excellent services which the borough residents have come to expect, not the union.''

Tom Tosti, a staff representative with AFSCME District Council 88 based in Plymouth Meeting, Montgomery County, declined to comment on Olpere's statements and on what prompted the workers to unionize.

FULL story at link.