EVERETT — The Snohomish County Council today gave its official blessing to a concessions package that includes furlough days for workers in the largest union representing county workers.
The agreement, which the council passed by a 4-0 vote, was intended to avoid layoffs. It applies to about 60 percent of the county’s 2,900-member workforce who belong to American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. After the vote, council chairman Mike Cooper thanked staff from executive Aaron Reardon’s office and the union for coming up with the agreement.
On Wednesday, AFSCME members in Snohomish County voted overwhelmingly to take a combination of furloughs and shortened work weeks to help county government manage a $6.7 million budget shortfall. The furloughs were part of emergency ordinances that also included a hiring freeze and other sacrifices.
The new contact freezes wages at 2009 levels for next year, but has provisions for the county or the union to renegotiate if the financial situation changes for the better or the worse.
The concessions give the union’s employees a pay cut of slightly more than 4 percent. That works out to nearly $2,000 for a county employee earning $45,000 a year.
The council and the executive already have enacted a similar wage reduction for non-union employees.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
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