EVERETT — Snohomish County court clerks have agreed to a new labor contract, averting the threat of a strike that loomed earlier this year.
Several dozen clerks staged a one-day walkout in March over low pay compared to other employees in county government.
County Executive Dave Somers helped put some of their concerns to rest Tuesday, by signing a four-year deal. The County Council authorized him to approve the contract.
The agreement is expected to benefit the office’s lowest-paid employees, said Melody Stewart, president of the Snohomish County Clerks’ Association. The whole office, nevertheless, would continue to work under job descriptions that haven’t been updated in 15 years.
“I’m happy that we were at least able to get something for half of the office,” Stewart said. “Ideally, we would have been able to get something for everybody.”
The union represents about 65 employees. Their members keep the Superior Court system running, by processing documents, maintaining court files and assisting during court proceedings. They receive fees, fines and court-ordered payments. They finalize divorces, prepare protection orders and certify bench warrants, among other functions.
Their boss is Clerk Sonya Kraski, an elected official who has been sympathetic to her employees’ concerns, but not a direct party to their contract negotiations.
Union members came out in favor of the agreement on June 9 in a close vote, Stewart said.
Under the deal, new pay scales will take effect retroactively at the beginning of 2015 and run through 2018. It provides a 2 percent cost-of-living raise for the first two years and 2.5 percent for the final two years.
Lower-salaried employees will get bumped to a higher pay grade. They would start at $20.06 per hour, an increase of $1.32. That’s a yearly salary of $41,724.
The average employee in the Clerk’s Office earned $48,440 in 2016, according to figures provided by the Executive’s Office.
Clerks have long asserted that their members are paid less than other employees in county government who perform comparable work. As part of the new labor contract, the county agreed to hire a consultant to conduct a wage study, which would examine those concerns.
The resolution for the clerks follows an accord reached in March with the county’s largest public employee union. The agreement with the Washington State Council of County and City Employees, an AFSCME affiliate that represents more than 1,500 of the county’s 2,800 employees, also runs from 2015 through 2018 and includes the same cost-of-living increases as the clerks are set to receive.
Labor negotiations are ongoing with the Snohomish County Deputy Sheriff’s Association.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.
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