SUNBURY - Northumberland County is reaching out to unions to help alleviate a potential $3 million deficit by the end of the year.
The position of at least one, the Teamsters, is clear: No contracts will be reopened.
The Teamsters, in fact, criticized the county for "claiming financial hardship" while giving raises to non-union workers, and offered instead to provide the county with "a few thoughts on reducing the financial burden upon the taxpayers."
That response seems to have heightened what was already a tense relationship between the county administration and Teamsters.
Looking for feedback
Health care costs for county employees covered under the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Pennsylvania Social Services (PSSU), Teamsters, and Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America (SPF) unions are a major concern for county commissioners. Although monthly insurance premiums for union employees have increased by varying amounts during the past few years, county Commissioners Vinny Clausi, Stephen Bridy and Rick Shoch believe more concessions can be made, especially with the Teamsters.
Clausi said the county was able to absorb debt without a tax increase through personnel cuts despite incurring an increase of $2 million in pension payouts, $1.5 million in health care insurance and $700,000 in union salaries in 2009. But it's gotten more difficult, and the county was forced to raise taxes 1.95 mills to 20.318 mills earlier this year. One mill generates approximately $740,000.
The county generated $16.5 million from the sale of Mountain View Manor at the end of 2009, but that money can only be used for long-term debt.
"Most of the unions have negotiated in good faith, but not the Teamsters," said Clausi, who hopes to present a long-range plan in the coming weeks to address the financial situation.
The letter to the unions was sent April 23.
Clausi said if they don't negotiate, the county could go bankrupt.
"If we go bankrupt, the union contracts won't mean anything anyway, so either way, they're not going to win," he said.
Bridy said the county is looking for feedback.
"Hopefully, we can work together as a team with the unions for the good of county residents," he said.
Shoch said he, too, is in favor of sending the letter and asking the unions to revisit their contracts.
Health care costs
According to figures provided by Human Resources Director Joseph Picarelli, employees represented by the Teamsters union had the lowest increases in health care in the past few years. Monthly payments for professional employees - one of three categories of employees covered under the Teamster contract - were $20 in 2005, increasing over the last few years to the current rates of $60 for single coverage, $80 for two-person coverage and $90 per family.
Monthly payments for non-professional employees, which were $20 from 2005 to 2009, rose to $25.69 for single coverage, $45 for two-person coverage and $50 per family in 2011. Arbitration to determine rates for 2012 is set for May 25.
Monthly payments for assistant district attorneys, assistant public defenders and special counsel, the third Teamster group, started at $20 in 2005 and will reach $55 for single coverage, $70 for two-person coverage, $85 for married couples and $100 per family in 2013.
Rates for AFSCME, PSSU and SPF unions, meanwhile, have increased considerably more, to a minimum of $146.91 and a high of $294 for family coverage in 2012. Also, non-bargaining employees, who paid $40 per month for health care from 2005 to 2009, saw rates increase over the past three years to $108.34 for single coverage, $175 for two-person coverage and $241.66 per family.
The large disparity - from as little as $50 per family for non-professional Teamsters to $241.66 per family for a non-union worker - is what Clausi believes must be addressed. Over a year's time, that's $600 versus almost $2,900, he noted.
Responses
In the letter, Picarelli told union representatives the commissioners are making their request in an effort to save jobs and programs.
As of Thursday, he said Ty C. Sees, secretary-treasurer and business agent for Teamsters Local Union 764, was the only union official to respond in writing.
Von Treas, business agent for AFSCME, said Thursday she recently sent a letter to Picarelli.
"We plan on sitting down with county officials to discuss contracts for the employees covered under residual and courts, which both expire at the end of the year," she said. "I then plan on taking the results of the negotiations back to the membership for a vote."
Allie Samsell, agent for PSSU, said she sent a response Wednesday, but preferred not to comment until Picarelli had a chance to read it.
'Claiming' hardship
The Teamsters have been at odds with Clausi over union issues, including an objection by the union's lawyer in Philadelphia over Clausi's use of the word "shysters" in describing the union and its officials. The language in Sees' letter doesn't indicate any change in the tone.
"The county is again claiming financial hardship, yet I noted that the non-union employees have again received raises and no increase in employee health care co-payments for 2012," Sees wrote in his response letter, dated April 26. "This was done despite the fact that I am again forced to go to arbitration for my non-professionals group because the county refuses to bargain in good faith, and again has asked the union employees to take less than the non-union employees in wages and benefits."
The county has defended recent raises for nonunion employees, arguing that, in some cases, it is necessary to keep supervisors who are in charge of union employees from making thousands less than those they supervise.
Meanwhile, Clausi said he was recently interviewed by the Wall Street Journal for a story regarding union negotiations and the possibilities of government bodies being forced into bankruptcy.
Sees wrote in his letter that, after consulting with Jimmy Little, president of Teamsters Local Union 764, the union was willing to meet with county officials May 4 or May 12 at the union office in Milton. Picarelli said this week no such meeting ever took place.
Clausi suggested the response was insulting.
"They refuse to come to the table," he said.