EVERETT — The union that represents seven of the city employees who were laid off last week will file a complaint alleging that at least one of the dismissals violates state labor law, union officials said Wednesday.
The city illegally transferred the work of a laid-off union parks employee to a temporary, non-union employee who does not receive health benefits, said Pat Thompson, deputy director of the Washington State Council of County and City Employees, which represents more than 400 city workers.
Mayor Ray Stephanson said that "to my knowledge," that did not occur.
"The city would not do that," he said. "If he thinks the situation exists in which we’ve done that, we’ll look at it."
The union will file the complaint before the Washington Public Employment Relations Commission, Thompson said. If the commission determines that the city violated the law, it has the power to reinstate with back pay employees affected by the decision, commission executive director Marvin Schurke said.
The president of the union, Chris Dugovich, said Stephanson is trying to reduce spending by relying increasingly on temporary workers, who work for lower wages than union workers and do not receive benefits.
"It’s outsourcing pure and simple," he said.
Thompson said the budget cuts are politically motivated. Stephanson, he said, manufactured a budget crisis in the November mayoral campaign to defeat incumbent Mayor Frank Anderson and is now being forced to "follow what he said in his campaign."
The union donated $5,300 to Anderson’s campaign, state campaign records show.
With a $24 million surplus, the city is in good financial shape and does not need to lay off employees, Thompson said.
"This budget policy is about politics, and our members are being used as pawns in his game," Thompson said of Stephanson.
On March 31, the mayor laid off seven permanent union employees, 10 permanent non-union workers and seven temporary non-union employees who worked nine months each year.
Stephanson insisted the city will face a severe budget crisis if cuts are not made now.
"What these cuts are about is protecting employees and services in the future," he said. "Clearly, if we do nothing, the impact on employees and services will be greater in the future."
Stephanson said he’s more convinced than he was during the campaign that the city shouldn’t use its surplus to balance the budget.
"I feel even more strongly about it now that I’ve worked more closely with the numbers," he said.
Thompson said Everett "is the only jurisdiction in the state that is cutting services when a surplus continues to exist."
Other cities in the state have laid off employees, said Deanna Krell, municipal government analyst for the Association of Washington Cities. But the group has not surveyed the cities to determine whether any other than Everett has a budget surplus.
Reporter David Olson:
425-339-3452 or
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
