The DuPage County Board has approved a contract for employees of the county coroner’s office, which officials said will standardize procedures and practices at the facility.

The agreement is the first union contract for the county’s eight deputy coroners. The Metropolitan Alliance of Police Chapter 174 represented them in the negotiations.

O’Shea said he believed this form of pay was deceptive and he led the charge to have it eliminated.

In the new contract, which the County Board approved June 24, the deputy coroners are receiving the equivalent of one year’s “beeper pay” this year. That payment will be eliminated in future years.

The contract provides for 2.5 percent annual raises for the deputy coroner’s from 2009 through 2011.

O’Shea said he believes the agreement is beneficial for both sides.

“They got a collective bargaining agreement out of it, and we got some things we wanted,” he said. “I think it’s a win-win all the way around.”

Coroner Pete Siekmann said the negotiations were amicable.

“This was not a battle side to side by any means,” he said.

He said he believes his employees received a fair deal that will ensure annual raises and bring the deputy coroners on par with other county employees in terms of vacation and sick days.

Under the terms of the contract, the deputy coroners will work 14 12-hour shifts in each 28-day period.

Siekmann is an elected official and is not represented by the union.