North Andover Town Meeting expands role in union contracts

North Andover Town Meeting in May approved a proposal that could make residents responsible for approving individual municipal union contracts.

The bylaw, which is due to be reviewed by the attorney general’s office no later than Sept. 12, instructs the North Andover Finance Committee “to request that the Board of Selectmen add a warrant article or articles to every annual town meeting, which will enable town meeting to approve or disapprove the funding of successor collective bargaining agreements settled and unfunded during the prior twelve months.”

The bylaw, proposed by Finance Committee member Peter Bessen, does not apply to contracts involving school personnel.

Until now, union contracts in North Andover have been approved as part of an omnibus budget appropriation. The new bylaw creates the possibility that Town Meeting could require town officials and union representatives to go back to the bargaining table.

Board of Selectmen Chair Tracy Watson opposed the measure, which passed on May 12 by a vote of 91-62. Watson proposed an amendment that would have required only the presentation of the costs associated with any collective-bargaining agreement prior to a vote on the town’s overall budget appropriation.

“We want the transparency,” Watson said. “We just don’t want to have to renegotiate contracts.”

Watson said that she has a number of other concerns with the new bylaw, including the possibility that the delicate process of union negotiations could, in effect, play out on the floor of Town Meeting.

“People may not understand that they’re dealing with the monetary aspects [of union contracts] and nothing else,” Watson said. “It’s hard enough to negotiate union contracts. It’s even harder to do it with 300 people in the room.”

North Andover has an open town meeting.