Yesterday, at a rare meeting of Northampton County Council's Governance Committee, Deputy Clerk Alene Shafnisky took center stage to discuss Council's pay study, which apparently has still gone nowhere. She pretty much established that she knowns next to nothing about personnel, or bidding. Nor should she. She's a Council Clerk, not a sage. She also said the pay study would be limited to nonunion (career service) workers, which is news to me. Elected officials will be ignored as well. The persons who could more properly advise County Council would be procurement, personnel and fiscal.
Council member John Goffredo questioned why unions would be excluded. Council Solicitor Chris Spadoni thought it could violate a collective bargaining agreement, but that's pure nonsense. A pay study would almost certainly find that most union positions are underpaid, and I doubt very much that an unfair labor practice can be filed over something that actually inures to the benefit of the employee. Moreover, a pay study makes no changes to any union contract. So what the hell is Chris talking about?
He does sound very dignified.
Now I am biased against Chris Spadoni. I admit it. That bastard defeated me in my first ever criminal trial. I still cry over that defeat. He also convinced me decades ago to do a 22-mile run, but then he dropped out after four. All that is irrelevant to my searing logic. Spadoni needs a few refresher courses at Lycoming College, the Harvard of North Central Pennsylvania.
Aside from all of that, Northampton County Council adopted an ordinance on September 15 calling for a pay study for all employees. If they now wish to limit this to nonunion workers, that requires an act of equal dignity, i.e. an amended ordinance.
As things stand, County Council is ignoring their own ordinance.
16 comments:
Agree it should be all and there is no conflict, since it is just a survey. McClure may do his usual lawyer bray, but it is meaningless. Problem is allegedly Spadoni is a bit lax and is too close to the Mcclure group and not wanting to offend.
Also looks like McClure is once again playing the bully card by promising to have procurement touch base with council and then having them prepare the request and post it publicly without any council review. He refuses to allow procurement to even speak to any council people. Maybe the truth would come out if subpoenas are issued. He is being very slimy on this one and even you should find disfavor with his actions.
A pay study for unions creates a raft of conflicts and problems. Doing so is just poor management. It's not like they haven't legally and faithfully negotiated for their current wages. Collective bargaining works just fine.
Why the H does Alene Shafnisky have to do with a pay study! Another overpaid Council employee! That office needs a pay study. WAY OVER PAID! They work for the COUNCIL that TAXPAYERS ELECTED TO WATCH OVER OUR MONEY! NC needs a house cleaning.
We are not the dumbest employees in the County Government nor are we the brightest, but if there is one thing we know, we know when we are being screwed and we are being screwed again. You have a Council Clerk getting paid more than #100,000.00 a year and she doesn't have the common sense to go on line and get an RFP for a wage survey. How about getting an older RFP from our own department/agency responsible for looking at bidding procedures? In the past, everyone was included in the wage study. who were the County Executives and who were the Council Members when these wage surveys were done? won't they help us if we asked? If they asked them for advice on how to do accomplish this, I'm willing to bet they would help. Please do something.
This is a disgusting, absurd, non-action by council. The president of council should do her job.
If the unions wanted to split the cost of the study, then I would consider it. But for the county to pay for what the unions should already be doing for their membership seems to me to be wrong?
Well, you know who probably pushed the solicitor into using this line of attack to block a full pay study. McClure probably thinks of himself as the 'Invisible Hand' guiding things in the county, but he's so not subtle about things like this, he's more like the visible hand.
" He refuses to allow procurement to even speak to any council people."
This obviously comes from someone on Council who has either been misled or is misleading. It's untrue. Quite the opposite. I know that McClure intends to cooperate fully with Council. He was quite upset about the governance committee meeting bc he wanted to be there himself but had a previously scheduled meeting with the LC Exec. Council could have and should have asked procurement and HR to participate instead of relying on a council clerk who has no knowledge of either topic.
What is true is that there appears to be friction between McClure and LVH, the Council Prez. This appears to be more personal in nature than policy-oriented. It is my hope that they can both be better persons than I am and realize they are there to serve the county. Disagreement is fine. That is the nature of a representative democracy. But personal animosity prevents good government and is contrary to the best interests of the county.
"Well, you know who probably pushed the solicitor into using this line of attack to block a full pay study."
I doubt that is so because Chris has come down against the exec several times over other disputes, including one with the courts. Chris is just being Chris. What's more, I would tell Council to listen to him, not me. I think he's wrong, but I'm a bottom-feeding blogger, not a practicing lawyer.
Sad that your pal McClure uses this blog to push misinformation and deflection. Barron is assigned as your friend to leak the current talking points. According to sources close to the situation, the only reason the study issue got this far is because McClure stopped procurement from talking to the council staff. Had he and Barron allowed procurement to do their typical due diligence things would have gone smooth. The fact that McClure made a council driven proposal public without any council review says a lot. Procurement would have been glad to make sure things were as they should be, but they were blocked. It is well known you swallow anything this administration says as the pure truth but on this one you are being used. You know there are no secrets in the courthouse. The administration does not want to go to war on overpaid staff and underpaid staff with their record on who gets hefty raises and who doesn't. LVH isn't the problem. Don't blame a woman.
If Spadoni has consulted with labor counsel, then fine, listen to him. If not, then ptui.
" It is well known you swallow anything this administration says as the pure truth but on this one you are being used."
Funny. When I talk to McClure or Barron, they do not hide behind veils of anonymity. In my story, I accurately report what happened. The youtube video backs me up. A deputy clerk who knows nothing about procurement or HR stood before Council as an expert in both. She even had suggestions on improving morale. She also engaged in policy discussion. That is not her role. She is not an elected official.
Procurement was never blocked from cooperation after adoption of the ordinance. I have this from people who, unlike you, do not lie or hide behind a veil of anonymity. In fact, I will verify this with procurement, along with several other reports I've heard about the Council Clerk's office. Your job is to represent all nine members of council, not just one.
I hate to see county employees fired unless they steal or betray the public trust the way Kerry Myers nephew did when he was screwing a female inmate. Lying comes close. So I would not fire you. I do know this. You are grossly overpaid. This will be clear when the job study is finally done, unless you manage to exempt yourselves like you did to Council and the unions. I do believe the Clerk and her Deputy deserve no raises.
I fully expect to get an anonymous comment denying this comes from the Clerk's office. Try again. Shafnisky has already made the mistake of emailing me about previous blog posts and trying to defend Council members while simultaneously attacking me. That is NOT the role of the Clerk. Your job is to prepare meeting minutes, answer the phone, prepare the agenda without screwing it up as you've done numerous times, be the scrivener of resolutions and ordinances and perform research within your wheelhouse. You should be completely nonpartisan. You should avoid picking fights with, of all people, someone who has followed county politics since 1978. No one should even know you are there.
If anyone was used at the governance committee, it was you.
Not Nice.
In the world of collective bargaining, this is absurdly stupid. Does anybody know how collective bargaining works? Why tip the scales in any direction? Whose ridiculous scam is this? This is so far beyond reasonable, it stinks of corruption. There's no other reasonable explanation for something so ludicrous.
7:23 AM..........You are an obvious cabinet member of the Administration. Even if you were a Union President, you would welcome this salary study. It would confirm that you are doing a great job representing your union or divulge the fact that you are aren't worth the dues you collect and should be terminated as a Union. The employees need this study. The Council needs this study. The Administration needs this study to address the problem of high turnover and employees complaining of low wages and the inability to fill important vacancies in the County. The Taxpayers are in favor of a wage study to insure the general public that they are getting their dollars worth and also to see if the administration is taking care of certain individuals at the cost of others employed by the Administration. Your claims are nothing more than nonsense and "BULLCRAP" and obviously written by one of McClures cronies.
As an ex union rep at Northampton County I know that it is written that a Pay study is to be done every few years. They have not done one for ages. McClure and his Admin. only cares about his croines! They are all so crooked! None of this Adminstaration will ever get elected againif any of them run! Even Charlie Tuna is he runs for County Exec.
Pay study is in county law. McClure hates it but it must be done. Hefner uses council staff as her own private administrators. It's her ego v. McClure. Was told procurement staff was asked to attend meeting but were not allowed. Do not believe McClure is being less than honest with you and staff may not speak out of turn. They are terrified.
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