At last week's meeting of Northampton County Council, a pay raise totaling $450,410 was approved for 73 court-appointed employees. Thy include domestic relations conference officers, probation officers, pretrial services officers, law clerks, supervisors and even the court's accountant. The salaries were approved mostly by a 7-1 vote, with Ken Kraft dissenting and John Goffredo being absent. (You can see the numerous positions involved here.)
Earlier that week, President Judge Craig Dally told Council that the majority of these employees were at one time part of a union, but disbanded in 2019. When that happened, these employees should have been moved from union to career service PayScales, but they were never moved over as they should have been.
Were these employees being punished for decertifying from a union? What I can say is that when they disbanded, the county initially refused to give them a retroactive 2% payraise that was slotted for career service workers that year. Two of Council's former members, both of whom just happened to be union agents, wanted to stiff these workers. And initially, they succeeded. "They made the choice to leave the union and that was their choice," said Kevin Lott at the time. He was among four Council members (including then Council member Tara Zrinski and now Council President Lori Vargo Heffner) who voted to deny these workers a pittance that would cost the county a grand total of $69,000 for 64 court-appointed professionals.
Though this raise was eventually passed, these former union members were never moved over to the higher career service PayScales.
"I wasn't aware of this," said Judge Dally. "Had I known, I would have come here sooner."
Judge Dally was under the impression that these raises were going to be part of the 2026 budget, but was that never happened, either.
This could be a misunderstanding. It could also be an administration intent on punishing employees for having left the union.
Interestingly, the one Council member who balked at this migration was Ken Kraft, himself a former union agent. He was more than willing to let these employees stew in the wages of an expired union contract that was at least 6 years old.
These raises are effective now, not next year. Judge Dally told Council he had the money in his budget to cover it.
Judge Dally circumvented the Home Rule Charter and Council did as well by approving these raises.
ReplyDeleteIf a department head wants to change the grade classification of a position, then Council has the authority to do that.
In this case, you have a group of workers who were not satisfied with a decision made by the Executive or his designee.
The recourse of these employees according to the Home Rule Charter is to file an appeal with the Personnel Appeals Board, a group of 5 individuals picked by the Executive to hold a hearing and render a decision. If this body believes the employee was wronged and should be made whole, Council has the authority to make them whole and should.
This never happened; instead Dally took it upon himself to make these employees whole in a matter he had no standing to by bringing it to Council. He could have spoke on their behalf at the Appeals Board hearing as one had the right to call witnesses, but the approach he took violates the Home Rule charter for employee grievances.
The ignorance of the 7 Council members does not excuse their decision and hopefully McClure vetoes it.
Council may be a part time job but one’s understanding of the Home Rule Charter should be a requirement.
Council did approve the raises. They set the salaries, not the Exec or even he judges. Judge Dally did the right thing by asking Council for approval. Also, the Exec was supposed to have been in agreement as well and these hikes should have been in the proposed budget but strangely were not. So I suspect these workers were being punished and Ken Kraft's vote is evidence.
DeleteOutrageous!!! Who looks out for the beleagured taxpayer?
ReplyDeleteBoo hoo. Who looks out for the tax payers??
DeleteBoo hoo. How looks out for the county employees?
Boo hoo. Who will pay for county services?
This blog is so whiny. Live in the woods if you can't pay your taxes.
People deserve to get paid and the people in the county deserve services.
Now that is the real McClure, vindicative and mean-spirited. Zirinski will inherit a half million in raises compounded every year instead of $69,000. Of course, it is partly her fault as she was a top rubber stamp on council. She will find there are many hidden gems awaiting her in terms of cost. She may be county executive, but does she really believe the McClure appointees she is keeping will admit they screwed up? She needs help and doesn't even realize it. McClure is shafting the retirees, Gracedale and employees in order to get out without a tax increase from him. She will need a very compliant county council of rubber stamps of her own.
ReplyDeleteNow that they got the raises despite the viciousness of the union puke council members, will their homes be firebombed or their tires slashed? Kraft and Zrinski make unions look detestable.
ReplyDeleteThe only person who sounds like a "puke" is you.
DeleteKraft has a PhD in Miserable.
ReplyDeleteWay many more of these employees were not in the union that decertified than were in it. Do you not know that, or are you intentionally misleading your readers ?
ReplyDeleteYou, and not I, are misleading people. PJ Dally trold Council that the "vast majority" of these judicial employees were formerly unionized court appointed professionals, and they were. I looked over the jobs and at least 60 had been members of that union. So you are incorrect.
DeleteThe first thing Zrinski "MUST DO" is have a professional wage scale study done. You can't take the word of department heads. You must have verified proof of comparable wages being paid in the community and surrounding Counties. It is long overdue and more than justified.
ReplyDelete10:41, A wage study for career service was done by county council in 2024. It found that 65% of nonunion were locked in the first three steps. https://lehighvalleyramblings.blogspot.com/2024/03/norco-council-gets-long-awaited-pay.html
DeleteAnd their still severely underpaid.
DeleteYou are of course wrong. You loomed up nothing. There weren’t 60 employees. It was more like 9. Anyhoo, if you’re right and these were simply a matter of which pay scales they were on, why the “upgrades” 14% ? Answer, they were Step and Grade increases.
ReplyDeleteNobody is overpaid or underpaid. Anyone is free to find another job or keep the one they have. This is not North Korea.
ReplyDeleteWhy would the county punish employees for removing themselves from their union? If anything the county would rather that. Common sense.
ReplyDeleteCommon sense it is. However when those in charge like union support like mcclure this is what you get when you leave a union
DeleteTwo of the council members who wanted to punish the court appointed pros were union agents, as was Kraft. While it might make sense for the county to want fewer unions, that is not so when the elected officials rely heavily on financial support from unions.
DeleteSo these employees joined a union, didn’t like the union after a couple of years, left the union, and now are getting paid the same as someone with the same pay grade and years of service who remained a career service employee the entire time.
ReplyDeleteAnd if they had stayed in the union and made more than a career service employee with the same pay grade and years of service would Council raise the later’s salary- NO because Council does not negotiate wages.
Council intervened in a HR dispute that should have went to the Appeals Board, something it doesn’t have the authority to do according to the Home Rule Charter.
Please veto McClure.
You are incorrect. Their payscales remained the same as they were as union members five years ago. They were never migrated over to career service and did not get the benefit of increases in those grades. Council's business IS setting wages. That is one of their specifically enumerated powers. There was no reason to approach an appeals board controlled by the exec.
DeleteMcClure is pushed by unions. The ringleader appears to be the former maintenance guy who is now a big deal apparently running all the unions. Even real trade unions bend a knee to him. This administration has always favored the union employees over the non-union employees. Kraft's constant comments on this blog show how hateful; and nasty he is. Just a hitman for McClure. Zirisnki thinks she will get the same protection. Others doubt it. It is ironic that McClure claims to be the hero of Gracedale has basically destroyed it.
ReplyDeleteSeveral employees asked Jermaine Greene for new office equipment and he told them that there was no money in the budget. However Dally said he was going to return $600,000 this year. Now who is lying is the question that needs to be asked by Council.
ReplyDeleteannon 11:29, you wrote just the way Lamont told you. Here is a cookie.
ReplyDelete