Scott County's workers open contracts to cut wages

Months of patient explanation through dozens of meetings have Scott County on the verge of agreements with almost 100 percent of its workers to reopen contracts and slice their own pay.

And union leaders and management alike say that action is probably unprecedented.

"As far as I know, this has never happened," said Brad Benson, head of the AFSCME local, biggest of nine bargaining units. "It's a big deal."

In an era when other counties are laying off workers or forcing them to take unpaid leave, interim administrator Gary Shelton said, a memorable endorsement for Scott County's solution came in the form of a one-word response from a counterpart of his in another jurisdiction:

"Wow."

Furloughs mean people aren't serving the public, said Employee Relations Director Jack Kemme, and layoffs just plunge a bunch more folks into "a nonexistent labor market," making them clients of county services.

Kemme reminded the County Board this week that Scott faced a $3 million budget shortfall for 2009, and one that threatens to stretch into at least the next couple of years. Managers were able to find cuts to make up for two-thirds of that, he said, but they felt they needed to look to the workforce for the other million bucks.

All sides concede that the possibility of layoffs did have a lot to do with the willingness to talk. Washington County, for instance, was talking in terms of getting rid of 50 workers.

So far, four unions with contracts have agreed to reopen them. Two with open contracts are in the late stages of negotiations, with one of them voting now. Adding nonunion workers to concluded deals means 85 percent of the workforce is on board, Kemme said, and it could increase to 91 percent within days.

Benson told board members that their own willingness to take a pay hit, and that of managers, "had an effect on our members." Preventing six layoffs by his own union's actions alone were another important factor, he said, but so was "the reality of an economic crisis" calling for shared sacrifice. His unit represents nearly 400 county workers.

Sgt. Kevin Nelson, who heads a tiny unit of corrections sergeants, said he "can't take a lot of credit for talking anyone into agreeing; it was simply the reality of the financial situation. For probably the first time in my career here, 24 years, we came into a situation where it was so obvious to everyone that something needed to be done."

County Board Chairman Jon Ulrich said: