Plow operators, state agree

Representatives of 1,100 contractors who had balked at using the phones as tracking devices agreed to carry them, but not for billing and payment as the state wanted. Snowplow operators will carry the phones beginning Jan. 1, some sooner if they wish, but the paper system of keeping track of hours logged will remain in effect.

John Cogliano, commissioner of the Massachusetts Highway Department, said the state had lined up 1,400 contractors to plow the roads for the weekend storm, and did not need the ones who had refused to carry the GPS phones. But he said the state wanted to show there would be no retaliation for the dispute, so several of the rebelling contractors had been summoned by yesterday evening to work during the storm.

"We're focused on this storm now," Cogliano said. "It's a bigger storm than we expected yesterday and we're mobilizing for a big storm. But we had a contingency plan in place to handle any snow that came our way."

The snowplow operators who fought the new requirements, however, said the state would have been thrown into chaos had the last-minute compromise not been reached.

"If they're all set, why did we meet today? If they didn't need us, why did they want to have an agreement with us before we left the room?" said Matthew Frazier, head of the Massachusetts Snow and Ice Contractors Association, a new group that was formed to negotiate with the state.

Regardless, Frazier said, "We hammered out a deal and now we will move forward. The phones will be used as a tracking device to show where we are and how fast we're moving. We've never been opposed to that. It will not be part of the payment system."

The contractors will be required to turn on the GPS phones when they start plowing or sanding, Cogliano said. Highway officials can then track wherever they are, and contact them if they go off their route, or appear to be broken down, or if they need to be shifted to a new route.

At the same time, the phones will record what time the contractors start work and what time they end it. All of that information will still be manually recorded on paper, and the two accounting methods will be compared at the end of the season. If the system is demonstrated to be accurate and reliable, the contractors won't oppose its use next winter, Frazier said.

"We want them to be comfortable with this technology," said Cogliano. "We think they will see that it's accurate and that it will enable them to be paid sooner."

The 2004 contract was also revised to provide for contractors to be paid for a minimum of three hours, up from two, for any calls they respond to; and so they can report to their local dispatching depots within a "reasonable" amount of time rather than the strict 30-minute requirement that was originally in the contract.

In return, the snowplow operators agreed not to be paid for travel time. Currently, they are paid from the time they are called by the state. Beginning Jan. 1, they will be paid when they start plowing or sanding.