Five union contracts got final approval from the East Providence Budget Commission at its meeting last week. 

The approvals will be one of the final significant actions taken by the budget board before its leaves the city at the end of this month under the "exit plan" unveiled at the meeting.

Contracts for the East Providence Education Association -- the teachers; the Education Secretaries; the Steelworkers; Teachers’ Assistants, and the East Providence Professional, Managerial and Technical Employees Association were signed off on by the budget board.

All of the contracts are for five years. They date back to the start of the 2013 fiscal year on Oct. 1 and run through the 2017-18 fiscal year.

The union contracts also are similar in pay increases – with 1 to 2 percent cost-of-living adjustments each year.

A significant change is that all the contracts reflect a uniform health care plan for the first time. Only the police and fire department plans differ.

Under the health care plans, employees will see their co-pays for charges increase. The amount of the co-pays are based on workers’ annual salaries and range from 10 to 25 percent of costs.