Beverly Hills : New Labor Accords OKd

The city’s firefighters association and several other employee groups have accepted new employment contracts that provide no salary increases, leaving only the city’s 160 police personnel (sworn and unsworn) still in negotiations.

The City Council has approved a two-year agreement with the 80-member Beverly Hills Firemen’s Assn. that calls for an increase in life insurance and in the city’s contribution to health insurance benefits, effective this week. The increase in benefits will cost the city approximately $19,000, City Manager Mark Scott said. The increase was given to put firefighters’ benefits on a par with those of city workers in comparable positions, he said. The contract runs retroactively from July 1, 1992, to June 30, 1994.

The city’s 50 management and professional personnel received no salary increases or benefit changes in their compensation plan. The technical services group, which includes about 270 accounting and library clerks, secretaries, building inspectors, park workers, mechanics and other personnel, agreed to a one-year contract ending in December that provides for no salary or benefit increases.

The city has reserved the right to reopen negotiations with the technical services employees on the issue of medical insurance if the city faces an increase in the cost of its insurance coverage in August.