Contract pending for county attorneys
The Washington County commissioners expect to vote on a new contract Thursday for assistant district attorneys and public defenders, who have been working under the terms of an expired contract since Jan. 1, 2015.
The employees are members of the Teamsters Union Local 249.
The county was not releasing the terms of the new pact’s wages and health insurance contribution until after the board of commissioners’ vote at a 10 a.m. Thursday meeting.
The wage increase is to be retroactive, according to Kathleen Bali, Washington County director of human resources, who said she was notified a majority of the union members voted in favor of the contract, but not of the numerical results.
The expired contract came about as a result of a binding arbitration decision that was handed down in June 2013.
The county has opened negotiations with its largest union, the Service Employees International Union, which represents about 500 workers at the health center, county office building and the courthouse whose contract expires at the end of the year.
Toni Vallone, Teamsters Local 668 business agent who is involved with the talks, raised a scheduling issue on behalf of telecommunications officers in the 911 emergency dispatch center who are working seven days at a stretch with 16 overtime hours and only one weekend off per month.
The SEIU contract with the largest group of employees in Washington County government expires Dec. 31.