After October fires, Sonoma County government employees ask to put off contract talks for a year

Labor groups representing most Sonoma County government employees have asked county officials to extend for one year the benefits provided by their current contracts, which are set to expire in 2018, instead of negotiating new multiyear agreements while the region is still in the early stages of recovery from October’s wildfires.

Ten organized labor groups with a combined membership of more than 4,000 county employees recently delivered letters to the Board of Supervisors and county administrative staff asking the county to enter into one-year agreements.

The groups also are looking for a 2 percent pay increase for their members over that period, an expense they say the county planned for in its 2017-2018 budget.

County officials indicated such spending is not guaranteed, especially given the fires’ still-unknown hit to county coffers. Under current contracts, most county employees received 3 percent raises both last year and this year.

Labor leaders spent months this year preparing for contract negotiations. They were supposed to sit down with county officials in October, but those plans were scuttled after the destructive fires erupted Oct. 8.

Labor officials said they want to avoid a protracted and contentious negotiation process that could detract from recovery efforts.

“The manpower it’s going to take and the time it’s going to take to do this is just bad timing for everybody,” said Mike Vail, president of the Sonoma County Deputy Sheriff’s Association. “We all felt it was appropriate to extend our contracts for a year, give the county some breathing time and allow them to focus their energies on dealing with the community relief they are trying to work on.”

In addition to Vail’s group, which represents 240 sheriff’s deputies, the labor letter was signed by Service Employees’ International Union, Local 1021, the county’s largest union, and eight other labor organizations. The one county union that didn’t sign on has indicated it supports the idea as well, said Joel Evans-Fudem, president of SEIU 1021’s Sonoma County chapter.

“I’m moving our members towards a community outreach, community activism model where we spend our time volunteering and spend our time really helping out the people who need it right now,” Evans-Fudem said. “I think that should be the focus right now rather than bargaining a contract.”

The reaction from county officials has been largely positive.

“We don’t know how much money we’re going to have or how much money we’re going to lose this next fiscal year because of property taxes and sales tax” returns, said Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Shirlee Zane. “It really makes good sense to extend the contract and not go back into negotiations until we know where our finances are.”

While the county seems on board with the general request, the proposed 2 percent pay bump may prove to be a sticking point.

County staff members did project an increase in salaries and benefits for the current fiscal year, but Christina Cramer, the county’s human resources director, described it as a financial projection intended for “assumption purposes only.”

Cramer noted the budget estimates were arrived at months before fires destroyed thousands of homes and businesses in the county, triggering tax revenue losses whose full extent remains unclear. Supervisors are expected to hear an update about the fires’ financial impact at their Tuesday meeting.

Zane also left open the possibility the county might not agree to the pay increase.

“We’re not going to give anything we don’t have,” she said. “That’s something the board has to discuss. We just haven’t discussed it yet.”

Evans-Fudem said the unions requested the pay boost because they believed the county had already budgeted for it, though he acknowledged that “all budgets are placeholders” until revenues actually come through.

“If it were a normal bargaining season, I think the county would be surprised if, say, a 2 percent overall change in compensation would cover a new contract,” he said. “But in this case, the money can be put to better uses, and our time can be spent better - both our time as the labor organization and the county’s time.”

The county is still required to meet with labor groups to work out details, according to Cramer.

“We’re hoping that it should be a much easier process just to have some meetings and roll over the contract, if indeed that’s all it is,” she said.

You can reach Staff Writer J.D. Morris at 707-521-5337 or jd.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @thejdmorris.