Unions

Employees of Peconic Bay Medical Center picketed today outside of the Riverhead hospital to demand a new employment contract with wage increases comparable to other hospitals and protections against artificial intelligence.

Workers at Pindar Vineyards in Peconic this fall became the first farm workers to organize and form a union under the 2019 Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act. Workers, the Long Island Farm Bureau and the union weigh in on what this will mean for farm workers and farm owners in the local region.

The five-year contract, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2016, provides members of the Riverhead Police Superior Officers Association with 2-percent per-year increases in base pay for the first four years covered by the deal and a 1.5 percent increase in year five.

The Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee for Operating Engineers, Local Union #15, will conduct a recruitment from March 13 through March 24.

Riverhead Town has settled its labor contract with its largest employee union, with a contract that provides a cumulative 1.875-percent wage increase over a four-year contract period, from Jan. 1, 2015 through Dec. 31, 2018.