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Snohomish County executive broke labor law, panel rules

A state labor-relations panel rules that Aaron Reardon and his office did not appropriately handle negotiations with the clerk's association.

By Jeff Switzer, Jim Haley and Jackson Holtz
Herald Writers

EVERETT -- Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon and his office broke state labor law by deliberately delaying negotiations with the Snoho­mish County Clerks Association, according to a ruling Wednesday by a state labor-relations panel.

The three-member Public Employee Relations Commission upheld a ruling from August that cited Reardon and Deputy Executive Mark Soine for not dealing appropriately with the court clerks.

The conduct, tactics and statements of Reardon's office and its negotiators "during the entire course of bargaining demonstrate a gross failure to live up to its statutory requirement to bargain in good faith with the employees' bargaining representative," the board held.

Reardon also was singled out for illegally intimidating an employee at an Everett Silvertips hockey game by making disparaging remarks about the clerks' attorney. He disputed the ruling in August as part of an appeal to the state commission.

The ruling came as a surprise, Soine said.

"We believe that taxpayers expect us to bargain hard with our employees and that's what we did," Soine said.

The county still can appeal the decision, and Reardon's office might sue in Superior Court to overturn the labor ruling, Soine said.

"It sets a very bad precedent not only relative to Snohomish County, but all local governments in the state of Washington," Soine said.

The clerks left the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in 2005 and formed their own association with about 70 members.

They've operated without a contract ever since, and have faced annual hikes in their medical premiums.

Shirley Johnston, the president of the Clerks' Association, said she eyes the decision with cautious optimism.

"The last time there was a decision, he (Reardon) appealed it and it took many months to get to this point," she said.

The cost of health care has increased, Johnston said. Clerks this year pay as much as $514 each month for a family of four, she said. That's about one-fourth of a clerk's salary.

There's still work ahead, she said.

"I wish we could jump for joy and we really can't," Johnston said.

The state labor commission reaffirmed the August order that a labor contract between the county and the association be decided by an arbitrator. The commission gave the county and the association 21 days to try one last time to work things out.

The panel justified its decision to order an arbitrator by saying the evidence "strongly suggests the employer is intentionally punishing these employees for changing representatives, and that these bargaining unit employees will continue to suffer until a collective bargaining agreement is reached."

In August, Reardon said his office employed no delay tactics.

Snohomish County Clerk Sonya Kraski, who took over the top clerk job in January, said she hopes the decision will lead to a resolution of the wage freeze that has caused a huge morale problem in her office.

"If the labor issue could be resolved, it would be a tremendous morale boost to our staff, which is at the 2004 pay-wage level," Kraski said.

In addition to the stagnant wages, deputy clerks pay higher premiums for medical benefits than other county workers. That's because the amount the county pays is capped at the 2004 level and clerks are responsible for all the increasing costs of medical insurance, Kraski said.

In 2007, Kraski's office had a 17 percent turnover rate, which the clerk attributes to the wage freeze.

The association's lawyer was pleased with the decision.

"In our view, if (the county) had bargained in good faith from the beginning, a contract would have been reached quite some time ago, and these employees would have been treated much more fairly," said Doug Wartelle of Everett, one of the attorneys handling the case for the clerks.

Although the county can appeal to Superior Court, "I would hope the decision would provide some impetus for the county to sit down with the clerks and get a contract signed," Wartelle said.



Reporter Jeff Switzer: 425-339-3452 or jswitzer@heraldnet.com.





Labor ruling

The complete labor ruling against Snohomish County can be read at www.perc.wa.gov under "Recent Decisions."