Dissatisfaction among employees of the Ellery Highway Department has recently grown more vocal.

Twice in the last four months, the employees have attended town board meetings and called out local officials over what they claim are unfair tactics to negotiating “wages, health insurance and other employee benefits,” according to a letter read aloud by Pete Samuelson, a worker with the town’s highway department, in May. A point of contention is a zero percent pay increase proposed by the town to the highway employees.

Samuelson noted in May that negotiation meetings are often scheduled months out and then pushed back or canceled.

“Whether your tactics are retaliatory, calculated or just the board’s way of not dealing with the issues we can state that with each passing day the division and animosity continues to fester,” he said.

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“We believe that it’s past due that you begin to treat the highway employees with the respect and dignity that we deserve.”

Town Supervisor Arden Johnson previously told The Post-Journal he could not comment on contract negotiations.

Dissatisfaction grew to the point that the employees in October of last year joined Teamsters Local 264. “We would like to state for the record that we stand united in our decision to join Teamsters Local 264,” Samuelson told members of the Ellery Town Board in the spring.

He added, “We do state for the record that we are tired of taking a back seat to the town park, the lake, the lawsuits and the targeted pay raises for a few and not others.”

Many of the same workers attended the August town board meeting. Steve Darling, a 15-year employee of the highway department, told the board their presence at the meeting was a “show of anger and frustration.” He noted that the town had yet to offer a fair wage and benefits package.

Among items reportedly turned down by the town include: a proposal for additional comp time for hours worked during a holiday; the implementation of a night shift rate; a reduction in the employees’ contribution to health insurance; and an additional personal day.

According to Darling, the town has agreed to bump the number of days — from 30 to 45, but less than the proposed 60 — that unused sick time can be converted to cash at retirement. Also agreed upon is a $20 per month payment for employees who have to use their personal cell phones for town business.

“The highway employees believe that our requests have been reasonable and our compromises many,” Darling told the board and submitted in the form of a letter in August. “We also believe there are sufficient funds available to provide for your employees but you choose not to.”