MACHIAS, Maine — Washington County commissioners now are dealing with three labor unions representing county employees, instead of just one.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Department now includes two distinct bargaining units, with the Fraternal Order of Police representing 10 deputies in the patrol division and the National Correction Employees Union representing about 30 workers who staff the county’s jail and its dispatch center.
The bargaining units were created last year after those groups of workers parted ways with Teamsters Local 340, which represents about 3,500 workers statewide. The Teamsters continue to represent about a half-dozen county clerical staff.
The county has yet to negotiate new wage and benefit terms with the two new bargaining units. Those workers are now on the job under terms that mirror the previous Teamsters agreement. Chris Gardner, who leads the three-member board of commissioners, said Thursday he hopes to have new contracts in place before April 1.
“We’d like to get it done as soon as possible,” he said. “We don’t like operating without contracts. In developing a budget for this year, the budget committee made allowances, but what the final pay and benefit schedule will be remains under negotiation.”
County Manager Betsy Fitzgerald said all county employees were awarded a 1 percent pay increase effective Jan. 1, 2012.
“Not having contracts does make the budgeting process difficult,” Fitzgerald said Thursday. “As for when we’ll have new contracts in place, all I can say is sometime in the future. The situation is somewhat murky and indefinite.”
Sheriff’s Deputy Rich Rolfe, who is the shop steward for the Fraternal Order of Police bargaining unit, said he has met twice with Fitzgerald and a representative of the county attorney’s office.
“We’re at an impasse at this point,” Rolfe said Thursday. “I expect we will be moving forward with arbitration, maybe as soon as this week. Everybody on both sides of the table has been easy to deal with and respectful. There’s no animosity involved.”
Rolfe said the county’s patrol division opted out of Teamsters Local 340 to ensure that any patrol officer concerns wouldn’t have been trumped by corrections staff, who outnumber the patrol officers 3-to-1.
“We wanted a union that represented just us,” he said. “There hadn’t been any issues, but, if there were, we just didn’t have to numbers.”
No need for any salary negotiations. Those Barney Fifes would gladly work for nothing just for the chance to don a badge, gun, and push their neighbors around.
Washington County is Bankrupt. Most of these make believe cops will work for nothing anyway just to play cop.
Sam, I believe you have “NO” idea of what you speak.
We the taxpayers don’t care if you have a contract or not. We would prefer you work for the enjoyment the job brings. We would also love to see your little precious union go bust.
You meant to write I instead of “we” I enjoy the benefits of having public safety personel, I am sure if you needed help, you would call them, but I could be wrong….
“We” AMC? I would like to see them negotiate an agreement that allows their wages to keep pace with inflation. One that provides them access to affordable health insurance. Please refrain from speaking for me on any issue in the future. Chances are, we are on different planets when it comes to 95% of the issues facing us all today. Please start all future editorials with “I, the taxpayer”. Your credibility will go way up.
ROFL!!!!!! You have obviously never worked inside a jail. There is no joy involved in that job.
Pay them a living wage that is keeping pace with inflation. Give them access to affordable health care. Then thank them for doing a good job. Next insurmountable problem?
Getting the county to pay a wage that keeps pace with the COLA is an ongoing problem. The health benefits are the only thing that keeps most of the employees there. I think thanking the help gets caught in the throat of the administration there. That may be an insurmountable problem.
I really wish people would STOP with the “Barney Fife” and the “make believe cops” statements! You are probably people who have been in trouble or have friends/family that have. Theses officers have families and bills just like everyone else!
This is normal operating procedure in Washington County. The union members get their concerns on paper to their stewards 3 to 4 months in advance of the current contract running out. Their union brings these proposals to the County Manager. The County Manager may or may not go to the Commisioners, either way they don’t respond until the County Budget committee has set their budget. Once the budget is set the county responds to the union that they have no money for anything and they would like the union members to give up some benefits. The workers in the jail are already working on a tight budget and are some of the lowest paid in the State. The County has for years promised to do a salary and benefits comparison with the rest of the state, but has to my knowledge never done it. In the mean time the County will do the usual song and dance and drag the negotiations out for close to a year. They will finally offer a pay increase that doesn’t match the increase in the COLA. The employees will finally fold and agree to it knowing full well that they won’t get another red cent. In the mean time the county got to sit on the money they already have in the budget for the payraise. That money probably grew somewhat with the interest it drew whille sitting in the bank.
For those of you who hate the unions, what they actually do is prevent the politicians from playing nepotism every time a new power is elected. They also do a pretty good job keeping the health insurance benefits for the workers. Those health benefits are in fact the only reason they have anyone working in that jail because the money doesn’t come close to compensating for the job.
Well I for one will agree that our “public safety” members need to have the best pay possible to go hand and hand with the other “public safety” members in Washington County. But that would mean that the Sheriffs Office actually does something and require the well deserved pay such as our state officers do. I say lets back out of our contract and leave the high cost of our tax dollars for our new department in Lubec if that happens. I am sure you know who would like a way out anyways and blame all the crime that has gone unsolved in Lubec on the new department (If it comes). At least that will give him a way out when at McFadens for his morning stop
LOOK……We are sick and tired of your bashing of Donnie Smith! Give it a damn break. As far as “his morning stop” at McFadden’s……..1. He has just as much of a right to stop there for coffee in the morning as he does to stop ANYWHERE else, on HIS time, before he gets to the office. And…2. HOW would you know if he there every morning…..unless YOU are there, too!!! And you can’t “back out of a contract”. You have to honor it or pay for it…..and you can’t blame any unsolved crimes on a “new” department, when it happens under the “old” one!
Tom Walsh, do yourself a favor and talk to the Corrections Officers who work inside the jail and deal with these people 24/7/365. Not to take anything away from the patrol officers, but they deal with these people one at a time, for a matter of maybe an hour at a time.
Corrections work in a controlled environment there’s a big difference between the two.
I’m presuming your are comparing patrol to corrections Randy. You are absolutely correct. There is a huge difference. Ask several deputies who have worked corrections, then ask them if they would ever return to corrections. I’m laying odds that you’ll get an emphatic NO.
Alot of “these people” that you are talking about are my clients. They aren’t a subset of humanity, they are our neighbors, family members, friends and the vast majority of them are addicts who have an illness that they cannot conquer. Most of them are very friendly with the correctional staff, and some are personal friends and family members. To see you write with such disdain about “these people” is sad. It shows a lack of understanding of exactly what is going on here in Washington County.
Once again Jeff, you work with them 1 on 1. They want something from you. You should hear their opinion of you if you don’t contact them almost immediately when they put in a request to have you called. Yes they are our neighbors, friends, relatives, etc. I refered to them as people not animals. I am fully aware of what and who they are, as are the corrections staff in the jail. They have problems for sure and the jail has saved some of them from death and given them a chance to sober up. So please don’t lawyer up on me and pick one word out of a paragraph and judge me on that.
I don’t get it, BDN. I know that some of my posts have been deleted, some were in response to washingtoncntyboy and I admit, some could be considered “personal attacks”, but you continually allow him to “personally attack” Donnie Smith on MANY posts without deleting. Why?
And yet they let the vile from the Sheriff’s Smith mouth to be printed. He is voiceing his opinion just like I am..
Thats pretty good Jeff. You must be tryng to get some new clients. I have talked with you before and heard you refer to the people you represent as drug addicts and scum and you sure didn’t mean it in a positive way. Addicts huh, and just how much alcohol do you consume on a daily basis?
Oh that is pretty rich Jeff. You must be trying to get some new clients. I have heard you refer to the people you represent as dirtbags and scum and it wasn’t in a positive manner. Nice try but those of us that you know you had to laugh on your comment.