SHAMOKIN - City council has struck a tentative agreement with the street department for a voluntary elimination of overtime pay for the remainder of 2014.
In exchange, workers could receive up to 10 days of compensation time.
Council ratified the agreement on Monday, and the union members must do the same before it is authorized, Councilman Charlie Verano said Thursday.
Even if the union ratifies the agreement, it's up to the individual employees to volunteer to forego overtime pay. It's not a requirement, he said.
Verano said he believes most of the department will volunteer but acknowledged some opposition exists.
City council budgeted street department overtime at $9,614.35.
Mayor William D. Milbrand said Tuesday that the compensation time could only be used for time off and could not be cashed in. Verano added that the compensation time will not roll over to 2015.
Councilman David Kinder said Tuesday that he expected the agreement to be cleared by the union by the end of the week.
The street department employs seven, all members of Local 2433 of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, as is the city's public safety technician.
Under the terms of an existing three-year collective bargaining agreement with the city, employees are paid time-and-a-half for any hours exceeding eight in a single work day or for any collective hours exceeding 40 in a work week.
The contract expires at year's end.