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| Justus James and Cathy Allen |
According to a memo from Human Resources, "the county has struggled in recruiting and maintaining staff in many of the clerical positions throughout the county." A "more fair and equitable pay rate" is proposed for some of the "lower level clerical positions," which affect both union and non-union workers.
AFSCME Business Agent Justus James endorsed this proposal at yesterday's meeting of the Personnel Committee. He was as happy as I've ever seen him,
"The clerical members that I represent - with honor, by the way - have come to us consistently, saying 'It's not fair' and 'We have the lowest payrate in the county. We have more and more work forced on us every day.' ... The secretaries of this County help keep lawsuits out of the County. They are saving the taxpayers money by doing their job correctly. So I believe it's long overdue that we turn around and make this adjustment for them."
James said he was "stunned" by the proposal. Cathy Allen, an Assistant Director of Administration, stated that this is something that she and Human Resources had been working on since last year and is "over and above" what will be awarded as a result of arbitrations.
Ken Kraft stated that he just happened to have a living wage calculator in his pocket. In Northampton County. it's $17.95 per hour for a single mother raising one child. He derided the raise as a "4% increase from nothing to nothing." With the wage hike, the lowest paid employees will go from $10 per hour to $12.05. "We're not breaking any records here," grumbled Kraft."But it's a move in the right direction because they haven't had a raise in five years."
"It is a start," noted James, who added that employees will be visiting Council tonight for a "long conversation."
After the meeting, he promised that you will see Council, employees and Executive working together, for a change.Council has sought to establish a Foundation for Gracedale, which could accept charitable contributions. James stated AFSCME will kick in the first $500. In addition, he wants to work with Council and the Executive to pressure the state legislature and Governor Wolf to increase the reimbursement rate for public nursing homes. He also wants Council to agree to keep Gracedale in County hands for at least the next three years.
"We are moving forward with the Brown administration," stated James. He stated he wanted to make the County a better place for everybody, including the taxpayers.
Jobs Impacted:
5 PT and 3 FT Clerical TechIs go from CR/CS/RU-9 TO CR/CS/RU-13.
4 Admin. Services Techs go from RU-10 to RU-13.
3 PT and 13 FT Clerical Tech IIs go from CN/CR/CS/RU-11 TO CN/CR/CS/RU-13.
3 Secretary IIs go from CS/RU-13 TO CS/RU-15.
5 PT and 63 FT Clerical Tech IIIs go from CN/CR/CS/RU-13 TO CN/CR/CS/RU-15.
10 Support Tech Is go from CN-13 to CN-15.
7 Intake Tech Is go from CN-13 to CN-15.
1 Elections Tech goes from RU-15 to RU-16.
7 Support Tech iIs go from CN-15 to CN-16.
2 Intake Tech IIs go from CN-15 to CN-16.
8 Nursing Home Fiscal Techs go from CS-15 to CD-16.
1 Purchasing Specialist goes from RU-16 to RU-17.
36 Clerical Specialists go from CN/CR/CS/RU-16 TO CN/CR/CS/RU-17.
3 PT and 52 FT Magisterial Techs go up one step in the CN-17 pay grade.
I mean no offense to the clerical staff but how about the non union management positions who aren't protected by a contract and haven't seen a raise lately. They saw increased Healthcare costs. And many make less than those they supervise. When is Ms. Allen and HR going to take a look at those positions and their pay? If people can get 19% raises, why are they only looking at one job class? When things go wrong in a department it's not the clerical staff who have their hands slapped by administration. Just another kick in the ass for supervisory staff.
ReplyDeleteWell said and completely correct. Except it's not a kick in the ass...more like a scathing slap with a whip in the face.
DeleteWell said and completely correct. Except it's not a kick in the ass...more like a scathing slap with a whip in the face.
DeleteThe Pandora`s box is now open.
ReplyDelete@12:19 you have to start somewhere. Public sector employees when one considers both the salaries and luxurious benefits, are all overly compensated. While the supervisory staff seem to "get less" or "be treated worse" than the unionized staff, it has to start there. Now when the next round of contract negotiations comes up... the Council and Administration have a baragaining chip... "look, the Management has taken major cuts, now your time." Sometimes that works sometimes it doesn't. Much of the time it does not and the public sector union contracts continue. I should mention too that it is very very easy to cut non unionized staff. So easy that they are easy prey in the whole salary and benefit cut game. Now the real kicker is that people are not seemingly quitting their jobs and moving on to better pastures due to these so called non living wages and cuts. Wondering why if it really is that bad?
ReplyDeletecounty union pukes posing as workers are never satisfied. They will spit up and cry their so called tales of woe. Bunch of frigging drama queens.
ReplyDeleteJJ will probably try to take credit for this. What a blowhard
ReplyDelete$500 goes real far when you are running a $7.5 million deficit.
ReplyDelete3:30 am OMG! Besides having no life by posting in the middle of the night, you are comparing apples to oranges. Or in the case of comparing John Conklin to Cathy Allen you are comparing apples to rotton tomatoes. Conklin left a very prestigious position in Miami to work for Stoffa and brought with him impeccable qualifications and education. He was worth ten times the ungodly amount that high school graduate Allen is getting paid. If indeed Conklin was given a 19% raise it was probably needed to keep him from accepting other more lucrative offers. He now works for FEMA in Washington to show how much in demand he was. Unlike Allen who when the Brown gravy boat ride is over will return to her 2 person office in the Slate Belt.
ReplyDelete"luxurious benefits"?
ReplyDeleteWe are getting just above the minimum not to incure a penalty tax by the Obama Care. I pay 5% towards my retirement. I get vacation days but so does the private sector. Last time I checked they made more money.
I like my job but im actively looking for something outside the county that pays more. Im definitely not being paid for my knowledge. My education far surpasses the job I have and my complacency is holding me back. It's not being conceited. It's the truth. I know quite a few hard workers that are underemployed here. If the county wishes to get rid of hard working underpaid overqualified employees then this is a grand way.
BTW I dont qualify for this raise.
Let them eat some crumbs that fall off the table! Total BS story. A pitiful PR ploy by Brown and Allen to fend off the unions and drive them to cut deals for the other workers. Divide and conquer. Don't be fooled by this ruse. Stick together or perish at the hands of these elitists snobs. Workers of the world..unite!
ReplyDeleteThe Foundation idea is an old Allen ploy. She tried it in Bangor and it failed. She tried to entice the school district to do this to pay for town stadium up grades..it failed! Forget about it!
ReplyDeleteYes, this is a ruse to justify he audacious raises that Brown is handing out to his cabinet cronies. Throw a few crumbs to the workers and in a few months give the rest of the cake to his minions.
ReplyDelete"Workers of the world unite"?
ReplyDeleteOkay, Comrade!
I deleted 3:30's comment, which is pure disinformation. in fact, i deleted it before and will probably have to do so again. Some trolls like to repost their lies over and over.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct Bernie. Same woeful defense of the 19% Allen pay raise. And now she is an advocate for a mighty 4.5% raise for her subjects. Salt of the earth
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know the exact jobs that will be getting this raise?
ReplyDeleteWill post.
ReplyDelete@6:38 Your unemployable ass should spend more time cruising the want ads #dontfeedthetrolls
ReplyDelete"James stated AFSCME will kick in the first $500."
ReplyDeleteOnly $7,499,500 to go! We got this.
8:20,
ReplyDeleteIn short you have finally figured out that you are a loser. Congrats - now get on with your miserable little life.
I'm confused. This is tagged as a wage hike but the listing shows what looks like promotions: "4 Admin. Services Techs go from RU-10 to RU-13." Would any new hire as an RU-10 still be at the old wage level? I would think that a real wage hike would increase the wages at the existing classification level.
ReplyDeleteI can see this helping retention of these current employees but what does it do for recruiting?
I'm missing something here.
Ben
Ben, It is in some cases a promotion, which means Council's agreement is needed.It's something Brown failed to get when he promoted Allen. This does help both retention and recruiting.
ReplyDelete@11:14 I bet you feel so much better about yourself now.
ReplyDeleteThis will only cause friction among Non Union management who haven't gotten raise's in years. Mr. Brown would have been better giving a flat cola %3 percent raise across the board for EVERYONE and not just certain postions. What a joke !
ReplyDeleteAMEN!
DeleteThis is yet only a small percent of county workers. This will only effect Non union, non management personell. So, most of the Union members will probably get raises through arbitration while all others will not.
ReplyDeleteOK HERE I GO. WE are not properly assessing[properties here because days of earlier assessments were what they were. My neighboring property owned by one of the FOX brothers for example had been tax abated because they bought them at auction cheep but it was a set up in effect,so they get the taxes cut short and I live in the same house and pay $138.00 more than theses smart guys. Now their tenant COSTS the school district more than any other household on college hill!
ReplyDeleteAdditionally,the rank in file --the little people that conduct the work like bee's should have an adjustment. I know some and they are great employees and 3% of what they get now is not that great of an increase but might help bridge personal costs at home. Get after the deadbeats that owe us and remember a few years back your assessors were lazy and they hung out at bars and did not do their jobs some of them,so now we are paying for it in the revenue. You should go after some of the old pensions of the dead beat employees that caused this.
ReplyDeleteWow! Justus James and the union were bamboozled by Brownstein on this one! At the council meeting Jim Hunter admitted that the $300 K cost of these raises would be covered by continuing not filling vacancies. So for 4.5% employees will continue to be overworked with no end in sight, and the union will have fewer members to pay dues. And how the bell does James appease other union job classifications NOT targeted for a raise when they are working in shorthanded shops? This was either a sellout by James or he was simply bamboozled!
ReplyDeleteStrange stunt for Brown's administration to pull before a primary don't you think? Just like the rabbit he pulled out of his hat at the last minute with the health insurance gap plan. BOTH of which he was planning for months. It also does not appear to do anything for DHS clerical staff. Maybe because Mr. James does not represent them? Clerical staff DO deserve a raise as they are at the lowest end of the pay scale. But again it takes months to figure these things out and then whomever does the figuring forgets about an entire department. Does not pass the smell test.
ReplyDeleteI think this is partially a good thing but also not - there are other clerical positions, such as deputies, that are not included in the pay raise increase who are responsible for the same clerical responsiblities as other clerical staff plus extra work being a deputy. At this rate, our clerical staff will be making more than the deputies who are responsible for assisting supervising them. Why not impliment a 4.5% raise across the board.
ReplyDelete