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County Commissioners Going Back to Bargaining Table with Unions
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County Commissioners Going Back to Bargaining Table with Unions
By Dave Maxwell
Staff Writer
After freezing wages of County employees earlier this spring and coming to terms with bargaining unions for the employees, County Commissioners have now decided to go back into bargaining talks with the Teamsters Local #14.
During a special meeting of the Commissioners June 24, the discussion centered on the fact that Lincoln County has not ratified at least two agreements they made with the Union earlier this spring. County Manager John Lovelady said the Teamsters have been upset by this delay, and sent the County a letter from their legal counsel claiming the County is bargaining in bad faith.
The Board decided for a third time not to sign the agreement and go back to the bargaining table with the Teamsters in the very near future.
Lovelady said by not ratifying the first agreement, "everything reverts back to the original contract where County employee's who are union members will get raises and cost of living increases and so on."
The initial agreement stated that county employees would have their wages frozen for one year and instead, would be able to accrue twice as much annual leave, and would have to take the leave time within two years or it would be lost. In addition, the County agreed not to lay off any employees due to budgetary reasons during the 2009-2010 fiscal year, July 1 - June 30.
Lovelady said new bargaining talks would not be able to unfreeze employee wages because that has been implemented in the budget and already submitted to the State. "What they will have to do now is to go back to the Union and negotiate terms of the agreement, and after the negotiations are done, they will have to live with whatever they come up with."
He said he thought the negotiating team would include two of the County Commissioners and the District Attorney.
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