JEFFERSON TWP — The maintenance and custodial employees in the South Butler School District will get a 2 percent pay increase in each of the first two years of a new four-year contract.

The school board on Wednesday night agreed to the contract with the Service Employees International Union Local 3. The union's 35 members approved the contract Monday.

The contract comes after six months of negotiations and a little more than a month after the previous contract expired.

Employees get a 2 percent increase in both 2006-07 and 2007-08, and a 2.5 percent increase in both 2008-09 and 2009-10.

The agreement for the first time includes co-payments for health insurance premiums. Health insurance co-payments increase as well. These changes follow the same terms implemented in the contract with the teachers approved in November 2004.

Other changes from the previous contract include providing weekend maintenance, on-call pay differential, continuing education opportunities, and pay incentives for certification achievement.

The contract is retroactive to July 1, when a three-year contract expired.

Board member Ronald Armahizer and board president James Jones voted against the contract.