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Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 | 2 a.m.
Sun archives
- County funds under scrutiny from SEIU (11-27-2011)
- County finds unions’ raises were bigger than believed (10-7-2011)
- County not waiting on SEIU to make wage decisions (9-15-2011)
- Clark County to state: SEIU bargaining in bad faith, won’t talk about money (9-9-2011)
- SEIU butting heads with county over ‘take-aways’ (8-14-2011)
- SEIU takes its chances by going through mediation with county (3-14-2011)
Sun coverage
A proposed two-year contract between Clark County and its unionized service employees appears to provide better benefits to future employees at the expense of raises for the union’s current 5,000 workers.
The pact with Service Employees International Union would represent a big change from an offer Clark County made to the union last year, which resulted in a stalemate between management and the union and then mediation. In that deal, the county offered merit raises of 1 percent in the first year and 3 percent in the second year, but only if the union gave up longevity pay for future employees.
Union negotiators didn’t like the idea of eliminating longevity pay and came back with this deal, which erases merit raises in the first two years but preserves longevity for new hires. Longevity pay for current employees will be frozen for one year, meaning workers will still receive longevity pay but the rate won’t increase for two years. It also eliminates cost-of-living adjustments for two years.
For the county, the new deal will save about $20.4 million over the next two years. Over the long term, county sources say, the eliminated merit pay offset the cost associated with the preservation of longevity pay. (New hires are not eligible for longevity pay until eight years after they start their job.)
So was it a good deal for the union?
Nick Di Archangel, union spokesman, said it is what the membership wanted. He expects union members to vote on the deal within the next two weeks.
“The members had indicated to us all along that longevity for new hires was a priority,” he said.
With political winds seemingly against public employee unions, Di Archangel said SEIU is “feeling pretty good about what we were able to achieve in this climate.”
“It’s about giving longevity to the next employees,” he added. “I’ve been getting little anonymous thank-yous for this. We feel that nothing is impossible anymore.”
The relatively large savings also decreases the possibility of more layoffs in the next year.
Don Burnette, Clark County manager, called it a “good deal for the county.”
“I know we didn’t get longevity, but it gives us savings we need short-term and long-term,” he added. “It also goes a long way toward eliminating the prospect of laying people off. The sooner we get the deal in place, the better we’ll be in that regard.”
If Commissioner Steve Sisolak’s reaction is an indication, commissioners will favor the deal.
“I’m glad it’s a two-year deal,” he said. Contracts in recent years have only been one-year deals. “And it’s going to provide savings and keep us from going to fact-finding or arbitration, where you never know what’s going to happen.
The deal takes care of the SEIU through June 30, 2013. That doesn’t mean the county can rest. Nor can the SEIU. The union’s roughly 2,000 employees at University Medical Center are also in mediation over a county contract. And in two weeks, negotiations begin anew with the county firefighters union.
Do I have this right? They are going to reward people for sticking around instead of how well they do their job. Huh?
I second the thoughts of boftx...we have created a system that no longer rewards employees by the quality of their work. What we are left with is a workforce that is entirely unmotivated and whos only experience is "working the system." While its certainly good for them, its horrifically bad for Clark County.
SEIU, What happened to solidarity? Hierarchical unions are part of the problem. Can't wait until real unions start to grow in this country.
I'm a member and I can tell you this is not what the majority of the members wanted.. The SEIU leadership is all about protecting the most senior members who only make a small portion of the group.. Those members could care less about merit increase because they have already topped out on the pay scale..
When you take away merit it affects people far more than just those years because that money is compounded.. Like compounded interest. If you wanted to disperse the sacrifice equally, furlough would be the obvious choice, and trust me, operations would go just fine if employees had to miss 2 days a month. With a furlough, every employee would give the same percentage of their income.. It's simple and fair.
It's amazing how they rally against "the 1%" and yet they are the 1% of this group and push their agenda at the expense of the majority. Last vote, the leadership slipped in some clauses that benefited only the top elected members with out ever mentioning it in the 20 or so propaganda emails they sent out seeking support. It really is amazing.
After I vote no for this I will be leaving the union.. Might as well wait until I am senior member to pay dues, since that's the only people they take into consideration in negotiations.
I believe in organized labor, but it requires real leadership and a degree of selflessness to benefit ALL members.. Thats obviously lacking in the SEIU, but at least we are not the Culinary :)
I am a member of SEIU 1107 and I know that this offer was embraced by the people in my department with open arms and most of them are NOT topped out!
The officers and Chief Stewards that I have dealt with have been very concerned with members whether they were topped out or not.
Furloughs???? I took a poll in my large department and only a very small minority wanted furloughs.
I find President Al Martinez very selfless as well as the Chief Steward of my unit. I thank Pres. Martinez, Steve Knanaus, and the rest of the Negotiating Committee for all the time and effort they spent on negotiations.
Great job Clark County Management and SEIU Local Union 1107!!!!!
@WallyWorld I for one agree with you and as a member of SEIU 1107 I feel the membership has been bamboozled. I hope the membership when they vote ask themselves a couple of questions i.e. why did the Union higher ups turn down "the county offered merit raises of 1 percent in the first year and 3 percent in the second year, but only if the union gave up longevity pay for future employees". Yes I say the higher ups turned it down they did not go to the mass and ask the mass to vote on whether the masses wanted to accept the County's offer. They presented to the masses that the County had money and that the County brass wanted to "takeaway". But I have an answer to the why did the Union turn down the offer of more. Its simple now the Union can enhance membership. This is their selling point to potential new membership. We fought for you now join the Union to pay it forward. I say again SEIU 1107 BAMBOOZLED its members!