EVERETT — The clerks in Snohomish County Superior Court say they are excited about receiving the salary raises and less expensive medical premiums they’ve been negotiating for since 2005.
They just aren’t clear exactly when they might be seeing the money.
A new labor contract was approved Wednesday by the County Council. The Snohomish County Clerks Association is now waiting for County Executive Aaron Reardon to sign it. He has 10 days to veto it or sign it, otherwise it goes into effect.
“We’re still holding our breaths,” said Kathryn Fugere, president of the clerks’ union. “It’s been such a long time.”
The clerks voted last week to approve the new labor contract 58-10.
Until it becomes official, the clerks are collecting the same wages they did in 2004. They will not get back wages for the intervening years.
Meanwhile, they’ve paid more costly medical benefits each year without a contract to shield them from increases that amount to hundreds of dollars each month, Fugere said.
Reardon plans to sign the contract, his spokesman Christopher Schwarzen said. It’s unclear when, he said.
Reardon’s office and the clerks were locked in a labor fight ever since the union broke away from the county’s larger union in 2005. That roughly 2,000-member strong branch of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees supported Reardon in his two successful campaigns for county executive.
The three years of acrimonious negotiations between the clerks and Reardon’s office were marked by unfair labor practice complaints, lawsuits and protests.
This spring, a state labor panel ruled that Reardon and his office violated state law by not bargaining fairly and deliberately frustrating negotiations. He was ordered to settle a contract through binding arbitration, a move typically reserved for police and firefighters’ unions.
An appeal was filed in Thurston County Superior Court. It might become a moot point because Reardon’s lawsuit was trying to overturn the state order for arbitration.
That was before both sides agreed to a contract without an arbitrator.
The lowest-paid clerk earning $27,300 a year will earn about $30,800 under the new contract. The highest paid clerks with the most experience will earn $65,000 a year under the new contract, up from $57,600.
“It’s time to settle this contract and move forward to better labor relations in Snohomish County,” County Councilman Mike Cooper said.
The clerks’ medical premiums are expected to drop between $68 to $333 a month, depending on the plan and which family members are covered.
Medical premiums for a family with Regence will be halved from $568 to $235 a month for the county’s most expensive plan.
Also, employees will receive a separate check called a “retention payment.” Employees who have worked the longest with the county, at least since 2001, will receive a $4,500 check.
Reporter Jeff Switzer: 425-339-3452 or jswitzer@heraldnet.com.
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