Sullivan County Teamsters Protect Their Contract

     Nearly three years ago, our 700 Sullivan County Government Employees overwhelmingly approved a decent contract, with no raise the first year but a four percent raise due this year.

     A deal is a deal, right? In the long history of our union, even our worst employers have always known they are legally required to honor the terms of the contract.

     However, two months before the raises were to be paid, the county manager dropped a bomb on our members.

     He announced that in his proposed budget for 2011 he would not pay any union employees their raises and  longevity bonuses unless those employees surrendered other benefits. To drive the point home, he hinted there might be 200 layoffs if the employees did not agree to his deal. His proposed budget called for no county tax increase. Besides the Teamsters, he included the members of three other smaller unions representing county employees.

     “Not acceptable,” said our union’s Principal Officer Adrian Huff. He called a meeting of the Teamster county employees’ large Negotiating Committee, and the committee voted unanimously not to enter negotiations with the county manager. Their position was later widely endorsed by a vote of the membership.

     “We will not negotiate down the barrel of a gun,” said Brother Huff.

     At the same time, former Teamster county Business Agent Lou Setren accepted a promotion within the county Probation Department. Brother Huff convened the union’s Executive Board, and they voted unanimously to name county Emergency Control Center Shop Steward/Negotiating Committee member Sandy Shaddock to the position.

     “She kicked butt and took no prisoners,” said one member after the struggle was won.

     Her first move was to sit with members, the leadership and organizers of Local 445, and the leaders of the other three unions representing county employees, and devise an intelligent strategy.

     What emerged was a three-pronged approach: convince the taxpayers of the justice of our cause, analyze the proposed county budget to uncover any hidden money, and mount a legal challenge to the county manager’s denial of the contract.

     The three prongs worked like a pitchfork to undo the county manager’s strategy.

     Within days county residents were reading the truth about our county employees: we average only $31,000 per year, our departments are at skeleton-crew levels, our work is vital to the communities. “We are the ones who respond to your emergencies, who provide for your needy, who take care of your veterans, your elderly, your mentally ill,” said Sister Shaddock.”We explained how county residents would be hurt if there were any layoffs. And we convinced them we deserved our raises.”

     Also within days, Sister Shaddock used her accounting background to uncover several areas of the proposed budget where the county manager might have been hiding money. “We discovered he had deliberately not included more than $1 million in federal grant money due the county, among other things,” she said.

      All the unions cooperated on the legal challenge to the county manager’s maneuver. “Our attorneys assured us it was a slam dunk, that no judge in the country would allow the county manager to break the contract,” said Brother Huff.

    In late December the county manager’s proposed budget was passed by a 6 to 3 vote of the county legislature. Only legislators Kathy LaBuda, and Frank Armstrong stood with the union and voted against the budget. Alan Sorensen voted down the budget for other reasons.

     County residents, the press, and even some politicians began to voice support for the county employees. The members distributed letters throughout the county, and participated in a large rally outside the government center. Sister Shaddock’s questioning of the budget calculations began to pay off, and the press began to ask questions.

     By late January, the county manager announced he would pay the raises and longevity bonuses due the employees. Further, since the county had found extra money in its budget, there would only be 18 layoffs countywide, with nine eventually coming from the Teamsters.

     “We were standing up for the dignity of the contract process,” said Sister Shaddock. “We are a nation of laws, including contract law. If we had allowed the county manager to get away with this, we could expect it to happen again in the future. It was better to fight now, and put it down now.”

     Added Brother Huff, “We will never negotiate on our right to negotiate.”

     The county employees’ current contract expires at the end of 2012, and by next year at this time we will be taking contract proposals.

     We can expect the county to honor the negotiating process.