NorCo COs Deny They Refused To Discuss Schedule Change

When Lew Donatelli's father passed away in March, his sister asked him to organize pictures his mother had taken over the years. He found five drawers filled with hundreds of them. When he began looking through them, he noticed something odd. He was absent from  most of these family celebrations and milestones. Not because he wanted to be. He had no choice. He is a Northampton County Corrections Officer (CO).

I recently met with Donatelli and Russell Attanasio, another CO who happens to be the union president. They were both on the negotiating team in the latest contract talks, which resulted in a binding arbitration award. They both want to respond to a recent NorCo op-ed, published here, concerning the manpower crisis and high turnover at the jail.

They are both long-time county employees, hired at a time when there was little turnover or overtime at the jail. They routinely were awarded step increases (4 1/2%) as they gained experience. A veteran officer received a lot more money than a new hire.

Times have changed.

According to these senior officers, the changes began with former County Executive Bill Brackbill. Pencil pushers is the county realized it was cheaper to mandate overtime at a 24/7 facility than make new hires. That practice continued and actually increased after Brackbill left. Last year, for example, both officers were mandated to work a second shift at least 25 times.

They met with me in response to two stories about the manpower crisis at the jail. I attributed the problem to low salaries. The county, in a separate unsigned op-ed, responded that salaries are comparable to what is paid elsewhere, and the real reason for the turnover is the union's unwillingness to change its schedule.

This was news to the union.

They want to correct this claim and what they say are other errors in the county response.

1) The Union Never Refused to Discuss Scheduling. - The County insists that overtime at the jail is "the Result of a Schedule Which the Union Does Not Want To Change." It argues this refusal led to $1.73 million in overtime in 2018. It even slurs corrections officers for taking vacations, which are no greater for them than the rest of the county workforce. "The facts demonstrate that the schedule that the COs work needs to be reformed to be fairer to all the COs and not just the most senior COs," claims the county.

Sounds good. Complete nonsense.

Donatelli and Attanasio were both astonished by this accusation because a change in scheduling was never brought up during any of the negotiation sessions with the county. Only two matters were discussed, health benefits and wages. Scheduling came up with the current administration for the first time during arbitration, along with proposed changes in 30 of 43 articles in the union contract.

Scheduling did come up once before, on August 12, 2015, during a meeting at the jail under former Executive John Brown. The County broached the subject of either 12-hour shifts or a 5 day on, 2 day off schedule.

These veteran correction officers had one question about a 12-hour schedule. What happens if you have to mandate someone? Wouldn't this mean an officer could be forced to work 36 hours straight?.

That was the last time a schedule change was broached.

How about five days on, two days off? "We'd have to be the two biggest dummies in Northampton County to say No to that," said Donatelli. Pointing to his and Attanasio's seniority, he said they'd be guaranteed every weekend off. But they are the two biggest dummies in Northampton County. They think this would be unfair to fellow corrections officers, and said there's a need to have some senior officers covering shifts.

As things stand now, these senior officers work every other weekend just like everyone else. They both resent the county's misrepresentation about them, and rightly so.

They both agree the real issue is retention.

They have always been willing to discuss changes in the schedule.

The County, if truly interested in solving the manpower crisis at the jail, could ask the union to discuss this matter

2) The County Saves Money By Paying $1.73 million in overtime. - A study of the jail conducted under former Executive John Brown concludes it should be manned by 44 more officers than the 203 currently assigned. But guess what? Those additional officers, at an average of $66,000 per year with benefits, would cost the County $2.7 million. So the County actually saves $1 million per year by mandating overtime instead of hiring people and paying them what they are worth.

This might be fiscally prudent. But it balances the budget on the backs of the county worker.

3) Does County Want Corrections Officers to Work With No Vacations? - In its op-ed, the County makes this complaint about corrections officers: "Data shows that the average CO at the prison works 1611 hours out of a 2080 hour work year. This means that the average CO is not available for 25% of the year, causing holes in the schedule." This language also appears in the statement of the County's Partial Arbitrator. The implication is guards are shirkers who only work when they feel like it.

The truth is that corrections officers, like everyone else who works for the county, get vacations and personal days, and those increase as they gain seniority. The "holes" are the result of earned vacations at a jail without enough officers.

Unlike everyone else at the county, these officers have to request vacations a year in advance.

Does the County want corrections officers to give up vacations and holidays?

If so, how long before other county workers are told to forget theirs as well?

If the data shows that there are holes in the schedule, doesn't this necessarily mean that more officers are needed?

This was an unfair argument.

4) The County Misrepresented Average Corrections Officer Salary. - The County contends the salaries paid to COs in NorCo are comparable and even better than elsewhere. It asserts, "In 2017 as of the expiration of the most recent labor contract, the average base salary for COs in Northampton County was $54,984. This excludes any overtime and bases average salary on where the County had the most COs—at seven years of service." Once again, this sounds good. Once again, it's completely untrue.

The average salary, in fact, does include overtime.

In fact, the average base salary in 2017, exclusive of overtime, was well below what was portrayed. It ranged from a low of $35,000 for new hires to $56,000 for officers with 18 or more years of experience.

The data used by the County is flawed.  This means that all the conclusions about how NorCo COs compare to other counties is equally flawed:

Donatelli and Attanasio wish to make clear they believe the County acted honestly, but erred and relied too heavily on written arguments made by labor lawyers..

 5) Addressing Turnover. - Both Donatelli and Attanasio agree the County is doing everything it can to attract officers in a job regarded by most as a "stepping stone." A class of 11 new guards just graduated on Friday. There still is a 25% turn over every year. Both argue this problem will persist until wages improve and salary compression stops.

Under the plan proposed by Executive Lamont McClure, officers would have received a step increase in the first year (4 1/2%) followed by two per cent raises in years two and three.

The problem is that anyone hired in 2018 is getting nothing. In the third year of the contract, these three-year veterans would be making no more money than someone who just walked in the door.

"We want the scale to function so that you move through the steps," they said. Right now, they claim it's impossible to reach the top step.

Since these veterans are already at the top of their scales, they are arguing for junior officers, not themselves.

Perhaps the County should listen.