Luzerne County Government

January 22, 2010

County gives probation union 11% boost over next five years

Contract raises lowest salary, $42,511 to $47,382, plus benefits. Pact affects 104.

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County Reporter
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As Luzerne County lays off 13 workers, one union has received a collective-bargaining agreement that increases salaries 11 percent over five years.

The contract with the 104-member Court-Appointed Professionals union was approved Wednesday by Commissioners Maryanne Petrilla and Thomas Cooney. County minority Commissioner Stephen A. Urban opposed it, saying the pact was poorly researched and is too generous.

The union represents probation officers and domestic relations support officers.

Cooney said he supported the contract in large part because that union has the right to binding arbitration.

The county may be forced to pay an estimated $1 million in salary increases to another union representing prison workers due to binding arbitration, Cooney said. The administration was concerned that taxpayers would end up paying more to the Court-Appointed union if commissioners didn’t work out an agreement on their own, he said.

The Court-Appointed union also agreed to concessions in health care and to forego a wage increase in 2010, Cooney said.

Cooney said the administration had estimated that the wage increases would amount to about $600,000. Petrilla said she didn’t want to gamble with arbitration.

“We learned through past experience that going to arbitration costs the county a lot more money,” Petrilla said.

She said she was “very grateful” the union accepted no wage increases this year because of the county’s budget crisis. The 2010 budget increases taxes 10 percent, possibly more when it is amended before Feb. 15.

Petrilla said non-union workers have not received raises in several years, causing tension when union contracts are awarded. She said she wants to grant “fair, merit-based” salary increases when the county is on solid financial footing.

Urban said he obtained a cost analysis that showed the new contract will cost the county an additional $567,000 in wages and benefits for the probation department alone.

Fear of arbitration shouldn’t weigh into the decision, Urban said. He said the county didn’t do a good enough job presenting all costs in the prison arbitration, and the county could “learn from its mistakes” by detailing all costs if the Court-Appointed contract went to arbitration.

“The union thinks there’s a sense of entitlement, that the county is a bottomless pit, which it is not,” Urban said.

Urban said he never received a thorough analysis of the new contract showing the impact of additions and deductions.

“It was never costed out and presented to commissioners. This is why we get into these budget messes,” he said.

Probation officer Matthew Skrepenak, head of the union, declined comment on the contract. The contract, which runs from Jan. 1, 2010, through Dec. 31, 2014, increases salaries two percent in 2011 and three percent in the remaining three years.

A chart in the contract shows that the lowest salary – $42,511 – will increase to $47,382 after five years. The highest salary – $57,660 – will increase to $64,266.

Around 80 probation and domestic relations officers are currently at the highest salary scale, county records show.

In addition to each salary, the county budgets about $10,800 for health insurance, $356 for unemployment compensation and 7.65 percent for Social Security and Medicare.

With extras tacked on, the county pays about $73,220 for an employee who makes $57,660.

Urban said that doesn’t include the county’s contributions toward the pension fund, workers’ compensation insurance and stop-loss health insurance.

To the county’s advantage, the new contract stops requiring the county to deposit anywhere from $225 to $400 per year per employee into a medical savings account to cover employees’ out-of-pocket health care expenses.

The new contract says this medical savings account will end in 2011.

Under the old contract, newer employees paid 10 percent toward health insurance, and other employees paid anywhere from $30 to $75 per month, depending on the type of coverage.

The new contract requires employees to pay $40 to $95 per month. In 2014, contributions will increase from $50 to $105 per month.

Employees who opt out of health insurance will continue to receive $1,500 bonuses. Urban complained that employees with a spouse employed by the county will continue to receive the bonus under the new contract.

The union’s employees work 35 hours per week. Those who work beyond regularly scheduled workdays receive a shift differential of 40 cents per hour. That amount will stay the same in 2010 and 2011 and increase to 50 cents during the last three years of the contract.

The contract also pays each employee a $450 annual clothing allowance that will increase to $500 in 2012.

The county is laying off 13 workers to reduce costs.

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