The Yates County Legislators ratified a labor agreement with the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Monday evening by a vote of nine to five.
The new three year agreement gives the 115 county employees in the union a raise of 2.8 percent each year through 2012. It also puts some restrictions on the accrual of compensatory time, says County Administrator Sarah Purdy.
The agreement is retroactive to Jan. 1.
Legislators Leslie Church, Patrick Galvin, Richard Willson, Dr. Timothy Dennis and Mark Morris voted against the agreement. Daniel Banach, William Holgate, James Multer, Steven Webster, Taylor Fitch, Donna Alexander, Donald House, Douglas Paddock and Robert Multer voted in favor of the resolution.
The legislature met in executive session prior to voting on the agreement in open session at 6 p.m. The resolution to ratify the agreement was the only item on the agenda.
Before the vote was taken, Willson said that no matter how he votes, he feels the county workforce is experienced and he thinks they work hard, but he also feels in the economic climate, wage increases are not appropriate. “This reflects nothing on their professionalism,” he said.
Morris added, “I very much appreciate the efforts of Yates County employees and I very much appreciate the work of the negotiating team, but we need to look at the economy. Too many people are going without increases and others are out of jobs.”
Leslie Church echoed the sentiments about the value of the employees.
Chairman Taylor Fitch said he thought rejecting the contract now would be an error. Saying he also appreciates the employees’ good work, he said, “They deserve our support. We just got through a budget with a 0 percent increase and we knew we had this negotiation coming up.” He reminded the legislators that the negotiating team came back with the agreement that was discussed and the legislators agreed to make the offer to the union.
“If we weren’t happy with it then, we shouldn’t have sent it to the union,” he said, continuing, “To do less shows we’re not together. It would be absolutely a mistake to reject it.”
Fitch pointed out if the legislature voted down the agreement, entering impasse and an eventual agreement could be as costly for the county as this contract.
Ann Marie Hand, the president of the local CSEA said CSEA members understand the difficult economic times. She said the employees in the audience during the discussion seemed to appreciate the compliments. “We appreciated the verbage, but as we all know, actions speak louder than words,” she said, adding, “They have a great group of people here who are well-qualified, accepting of the wages and they do an effective and efficient job and I think they (legislators) should be grateful.”
The CSEA represents 115 county employees. The county’s other bargaining unit is the Deputy Sheriff’s Association.
