Published: Tuesday, January 5, 2010
County court clerks reject furloughs in 2010
EVERETT — Snohomish County court clerks have rejected taking five furlough days to help balance the county budget through unpaid days off.
The vote fell in line with other county employee unions, which have signaled similar reluctance.
More than 70 people in clerks’ union were eligible to vote, said Kathryn Fugere, president of the Snohomish County Clerks’ Association. Voting lasted seven days and closed at noon Thursday.
“It was an extremely close vote,” Fugere said. “I think that reflects the extremely difficult decision they’re being forced to make.”
The clerks’ union still hopes to work with the county to find a solution without furloughs or layoffs, Fugere said.
Snohomish County leaders approved a $202.7 million general fund budget last month that relied on most of the county’s 2,700 workers taking off five days unpaid. That’s a salary cut of about 1.9 percent.
In March, most county workers agreed to take off 11 days without pay as an emergency measure to help the county close a multimillion-dollar budget hole. They also agreed to a wage freeze in 2010.
County workers don’t appear ready for more emergency concessions this year.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ Council 2, which represents about two-thirds of the county workforce, showed frustration in December with what it sees as a lack of sacrifices elsewhere in government. Its members, meanwhile, are being given the choice of layoffs or pay cuts.
The county has not reached any labor agreements with the unions, though conversations are ongoing, said Christopher Schwarzen, spokesman for County Executive Aaron Reardon.
Last year, the clerks’ union was the first in the county to volunteer for furloughs. Union members received 10 unpaid days, but also got 80 hours of extra vacation.
Only a half a year earlier, the clerks’ union had reached its first labor agreement with the county in four years. Members had gone for years with no pay increase while medical premiums rose, Fugere said. With the 2009 furloughs on top of that, an extra 2 percent pay cut this year was too much for some people to bear, she said.
Customer service desks have curtailed hours throughout the county as a way to cope with furloughs and a hiring freeze. In October, the clerk’s office also started closing for lunch and shutting down earlier in the afternoon.
The revised scheduled, “has helped relieve the burden of doing more work with less people,” Clerk Sonya Kraski said.
The clerk’s office hopes to avoid more customer-service cutbacks, but it is too early to say whether more scheduling changes will be necessary, Kraski said.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
The vote fell in line with other county employee unions, which have signaled similar reluctance.
More than 70 people in clerks’ union were eligible to vote, said Kathryn Fugere, president of the Snohomish County Clerks’ Association. Voting lasted seven days and closed at noon Thursday.
“It was an extremely close vote,” Fugere said. “I think that reflects the extremely difficult decision they’re being forced to make.”
The clerks’ union still hopes to work with the county to find a solution without furloughs or layoffs, Fugere said.
Snohomish County leaders approved a $202.7 million general fund budget last month that relied on most of the county’s 2,700 workers taking off five days unpaid. That’s a salary cut of about 1.9 percent.
In March, most county workers agreed to take off 11 days without pay as an emergency measure to help the county close a multimillion-dollar budget hole. They also agreed to a wage freeze in 2010.
County workers don’t appear ready for more emergency concessions this year.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ Council 2, which represents about two-thirds of the county workforce, showed frustration in December with what it sees as a lack of sacrifices elsewhere in government. Its members, meanwhile, are being given the choice of layoffs or pay cuts.
The county has not reached any labor agreements with the unions, though conversations are ongoing, said Christopher Schwarzen, spokesman for County Executive Aaron Reardon.
Last year, the clerks’ union was the first in the county to volunteer for furloughs. Union members received 10 unpaid days, but also got 80 hours of extra vacation.
Only a half a year earlier, the clerks’ union had reached its first labor agreement with the county in four years. Members had gone for years with no pay increase while medical premiums rose, Fugere said. With the 2009 furloughs on top of that, an extra 2 percent pay cut this year was too much for some people to bear, she said.
Customer service desks have curtailed hours throughout the county as a way to cope with furloughs and a hiring freeze. In October, the clerk’s office also started closing for lunch and shutting down earlier in the afternoon.
The revised scheduled, “has helped relieve the burden of doing more work with less people,” Clerk Sonya Kraski said.
The clerk’s office hopes to avoid more customer-service cutbacks, but it is too early to say whether more scheduling changes will be necessary, Kraski said.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
Comments
(
