Lehighton borough employees will have a new five-year pact in place starting next year.

Borough council at a special meeting last week accepted the 2025-29 AFSCME Collective Bargaining Agreement.

After the meeting, borough Manager Dane DeWire said the agreement is their union employee contract, which was up for negotiations this year.

DeWire noted that the current three-year contract, which has been in place since Jan. 1, 2022, expires on Dec. 31.

He said the contract currently serves six electrical linemen, five maintenance operators, three billing clerks and a mechanic.

DeWire said the union’s negotiation team was comprised of employees from each department and a union representative.

The borough’s negotiation team consisted of one member of borough council, the borough solicitor and DeWire.

Three rounds of negotiations were held before the union voted to ratify the contract on Nov. 18, DeWire said.

He said that under the terms of the new contract, new employees regained their second week of vacation time, which was negotiated out of the contract in year’s past.

DeWire said Veterans Day was added as a holiday to the contract, while on-call standby pay was increased from $135 per week to $140 for 2025, and $5 additional each year for the remainder of the contract.

In addition, he said hourly wage for all union employees will be increased by a dollar for the first three years of the contract, and 75 cents per hour for the fourth and fifth years.

Also, DeWire said maintenance operators will receive an additional 50 cents per hour for the first two years the borough mechanic will receive an additional $1 per hour for the first two years.

He said new employees will also be entitled to health benefits after the first 30 days of employment, instead of 90 days, as in past contracts.

In return, DeWire said current union employees’ sick time accrual is now capped at 125 days in lieu of the previous 175 days, and added that any employee hired after Dec. 31 of this year will be capped at 100 maximum sick days. Further, a maximum of six sick days will be permitted in a rolling 30-day period before a physician’s note is required.

He added that union employees will also be required to pay an additional 0.5% of their health care costs each year, capping at 5% in 2027.