Parsippany Blue-Collar Workers Get Contract After More than Two Years

There is finally resolution in the long-running contract dispute between the Township of Parsippany-Troy Hills and its blue-collar workers.

At Tuesday's Town Council agenda meeting at Parsippany High School, the governing body approved an employment agreement covering 2010-14 with the New Jersey Blue Collar Association, which represents non-white-collar town workers in departments including sanitation, water, parks and public works.

The administration would not discuss details of the pact, however Samuel Poff, president of union local chapter 1 said workers would get a 6.5 percent pay raise over the four years but make concessions in prescription drug coverage.

Poff said his colleagues did vote to ratify the agreement, which he said gives him and his co-workers, who he said routinely work in hazardous and unsanitary conditions, far less than white-collars workers receive.

The union chief showed his displeasure during the meeting's public comment section when he accused the mayor of ruling "by intimidation."

Poff said that after he presented the blue-collar workers' case before the Town Council at its April 9 meeting, noting the conditions under which they labor and their three years without a contract, he and his co-workers felt "mistreated" by residents.

"After Irene, Sandy, the freak October snowstorm, we got applause from the town for how good we did," he recalled. "But now someone made a comment that I was whining [and complained about] the overtime we got. Let's keep in mind that FEMA reimbursed every penny, so it didn't come out of the taxpayers."

He also accused Mayor James Barberio of visiting the town's sanitation department early in the morning to intimidate workers who came to support Poff at the April 9 meeting, while the mayor rejects the claim.

"The next morning, at 6 a.m. ... Mayor Barberio was there intimidating members who came to this meeting," he said.  

Barberio responded from the dais, not addressing the intimidation charges, but instead saying that Poff complained about the contract before the council mere hours after he had signed a memorandum of  understanding with the town on the union members' behalf.  

Barberio told Patch, "I did go down to the Department of Public Works but I never spoke to any of the blue-collar workers," he said. "I am the mayor of the town and if I want to go to the DPW I will go."

The mayor added that Poff showed himself to be "not credible" with his April 9 statement before the council.

"While I appreciate the blue-collar workers and the job they do for the town, it is unfortunate that their union boss is not a credible representative," said Barberio.