El Dorado County, union close to agreement
By Kathryn Reed
What was going to be a protest during today’s El Dorado County Board of Supervisors is now expected to be more of an employee rally.
This is because labor negotiations suddenly took a turn for the better on Monday.
“We are cautiously optimistic we are going to be able to reach a settlement that is fair and equitable to everyone,” Richard Boyd, senior business agent for Local 1, told Lake Tahoe News.
The nearly 800-strong Local 1 has been negotiating with the county since February to come up with a contract. The bargaining unit has been working without a contract since June 30 when the previous three-year contract expired. An unfair labor practice charge was filed with the Public Employees Relations Board.
Boyd said the county has been negotiating in bad faith up until Aug. 26 and that it had violated various bargaining rules, which is why the charge was filed with PERB.
“Regarding the unfair labor practice grievance filed by Local 1, the county is aware of the claim. The claim is baseless and we find it surprising given the progress that the parties are making at the bargaining table,” Terri Daly, the county’s chief administrative officer, told Lake Tahoe News on Aug. 26.
Boyd believes filing the charge spurred the county to come to the table Monday with a more reasonable offer. That offer has not been made public. The union and county are slated to sit down again Sept. 9.
The union represents almost all county employees except for sworn officers and management.
In the contract that expired nearly two months ago no raises were given and the big item was that employees had to pay 3 percent into their retirement via the Public Employee Retirement System.
Now Local 1 is asking for a four-year contract with wage increases each year starting with 5 percent this fiscal year and 3 percent each of the subsequent years.
It’s not that county isn’t giving raises, but they are for higher ups. Kelly Webb, interim information technology director, went from step 3 on the pay scale to step 4 on July 23, and then to step 5 on Aug. 6. The electeds approved these raises on 5-0 votes.
On July 31 the rate of pay for the human resources director was $124,821. CAO Daly asked for it to be bumped to $157,810 and the supervisors said OK on Aug. 1. Then Daly hired a friend of hers for that position.
On today’s agenda is an item talking about hiring a communications specialist at $100,000, even though it’s not in the budget.
This chart details who the top salary earners are in El Dorado County.
A class and compensation study is also something the union wants.
“The county has agreed they are not competitive and because they are not competitive they have monumental recruitment and retention problems,” Boyd said.
What the union is upset about is what it calls cherry picking individuals for raises – like the IT and HR directors.
“For us, it gets down to a justice and fairness argument,” Boyd said.
Taken right from the article – this is how your government works (sic)…
“On July 31 the rate of pay for the human resources director was $124,821. CAO Daly asked for it to be bumped to $157,810 and the supervisors said OK on Aug. 1. Then Daly hired a friend of hers for that position.”
That is over 25% increase just, well, because. Then the nepotism on top of that. It is a racket of self justification. It is beyond arrogance.
We have created a monster and it is killing our way of life. The government has so many things wrong with it but at the top of that stool pile is the pay and pensions for government employees. It is beyond unjustified it is a an abomination. It is going to bleed you dry if you don’t take control back from the unions and the crooked politicians.
Labor unions have seriously made suckers of the public for years and here’s another case for it. Just when the County is getting a bit of money, the unions want it for themselves instead the county should spend the money on improving servies to the public; its OUR money! Gotta love the arguement, since one or a few employees got a raise they all should ? That’ll BK the county faster than pensions. The County should turn down their demand for a raise and instead put the money into better services. The public has seen drastic cuts in services, bring those back first. Put the public first.
Why are supervisors approving these ridiculous raises? And skip the unnecessary $100,000 communications specialist. One can only wonder what it feels like to throw money around like that.
Completely agree with Red Dog. Employees with full medical and retirement benefits are already making more than the average citizen who is paying their wages. How about putting some money back into services instead of union pockets.
The two classes of people in this country now are the ‘civil servants’ and the ‘others’.
We know which group is prospering most. And at whose expense.
Wow! Very high paid employees in El Dorado County. Even though prices are rising, to put in pay increases each year for four years is not too smart. Not happy with the friendship hirings. I wonder how many people would be willing to take any of these jobs for less than the current pay. My guess is the line of applicants would be lengthy. Personally, at a glance, El Dorado County is overpaying. Seems salaries are out of line. Anyone else think so?
Scott, that is a great idea, the jobs should become available to everyone, perhaps the jobs – since they are so high paid and not to difficult perhaps there should be a 5 or ten year limit on them. We need new blood in the system. This stuff we got now is killing us.
And when nepotism is proven prison should be involved in the punishment. After all it is a form of theft.
The real problem with these excessive wages occurs when there’s a shortftall (and watch that will be the case in the not too distant future!). Because then the public ALWAYS has to hear, “We need to raise taxes if we want to maintain basic services!”
And of course, that’s always false! Taxes will need to be raised if they want to maintain their excessive pay & benefits. And whether your talking at the State, County or City level, the public too often buys the bureaucrats’ absurd story!
Angry sky man hates bureaucracies.
Certain departments are fighting for higher wages for line staff too. With the amount of harassment that goes on in the county, they deserve it. But, why does anyone need to make $90.00 an hour? And why is it that El Dorado County cant seem to keep a Human Resources Director on the payroll? They don’t last more than 6 months. They just hired another one. And it is nothing new for higher ups to hire people they know. You should see how that hiring panel is really conducted. WHY ARENT THE FEDS STEPPING IN???????Something is really rotten in El Dorado Co.
Let’s check facts…I know a County employee who is line staff- has a Masters Degree, worked 14 years for EDC and earns, wait for it, $26 per hour. Aprox $52,000 pre taxes. By the way, no raise since milk was $1.50/gal. Please do not lump honest hardworking county line staff in with management.
Anybody who isn’t happy with their wage should take advantage of their liberty to go in search of a different job. Nobody holds a gun to your head to stay.
Dogula- you missed the point. Everybody , you included, complains about how much money county employees earn. I was requesting you check your facts before commenting.
I’d like to see salaries, including benefits and retirement available somewhere.
Actually, Angel, I was referring to the story in general. Today, fast food workers in big cities are on strike, demanding $15 per hour, while not offering any more benefit to their employers or the people they wait on. Got me to thinking; Just like the government employees demand raises for doing the same old job they’ve been doing. If, as the government claims, there is no inflation, why should they get more money for doing no extra work?
Of course, I don’t believe there’s no inflation. We all know everything costs more today than it did a few years ago. But let’s be honest. Government employees get more money and more benefits for the work they do than most people in the private sector do. And they shouldn’t have unions to bully the tax payers into giving them a raise while we scrape by on less than we were making 5 years ago.
Be free, civil servants! Go make more somewhere else! I’m sure we can find SOMEBODY else to do your jobs.
Well, Lets look at the facts, I know someone in McDOANLDS doing five peoples jobs ,Why not raise the wages ? Some our lazy when it comes to doing your job,and the boss doesnt see it, RAISE THE WAGES,Put the right people in the right position of the job,Who wants to loose a job,? Its hard to look for jobs here in Lake Tahoe,.The saying goes you got to know some one to get a job,
I’d like to see the records of the 1%er’s tax lawyers that provide info on their state of the art off-shore accounts and tax-avoidance measures used to protect their capital gains and investment income they “work” so hard for be available somewhere.
…Let’s downgrade and eliminate any middle class jobs that might pay a living wage and let’s all race to the labor bottom and work for squat so the rich can prosper… Yea, that’s worked out so well so far… here’s a clue… 0 is going to trickle down and Ayn Rand was a sociopathic hack author and pathetic loser.
Unions built the American middle class and our country was never stronger, their demise is every citizen’s loss.
Unions priced themselves right out of a job. Once upon a time, they were necessary. Coal mines, construction, the docks, those were dangerous jobs. Today there is so much government regulation protecting workers and regulating their hours and wages, that all unions do is take money from workers that should be staying in the workers’ pockets to provide for their families. It is no longer the nineteen twenties, and union protection is redundant.
Oh, and those lawyers you’re complaining about with their offshore accounts? Those are the guys who are running Washington DC, and exempting themselves from all the regulations and expenses that obamacare and similar bills are forcing down the citizens’ throats.
Thanks for your consistently, invariably wrong input, that validates my point. All we’re waiting for now is the “hack author”.