I work for the Snohomish County Clerk’s Office. We have been trying to negotiate a contract for nearly two years. We left the AFSCME union because they were more interested in representing management than us, the members who paid them. We formed our own association and have been trying anything and everything to get the county to bargain with us in good faith.
On June 6 the county clerk, Pam Daniels, wrote a letter to county Executive Aaron Reardon. The letter asked if he would agree to binding arbitration. Our association has agreed to accept the findings of binding arbitration. To date, Reardon has not even bothered to respond to her letter. Deputy Executive Mark Soine has said that they would not agree. What possible reason would they have not to agree to binding arbitration? The only reason I can think of is to further harass us. Reardon has drastically raised our cost of medical insurance twice in the past year and a half. He has not done this to any other group in the county, including those not represented by any union or association. Why us? Our insurance rates are 185 percent higher than the rest of the county. More harassment. Reardon is trying to break our association. Why? We have not had even a cost-of-living raise in over two years. He is trying his best to destroy our association and force us back to his friends in AFSCME.
I challenge Mr. Reardon to give us a fair contract – now!
ADELE IVERSEN
Stanwood
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