WHEN SPOKANE'S three county commissioners met for their regular meeting in early October, they were taken aback at the number of people who filled the room’s public seating.

Before them were some 200 attendees, crowded into the hearing room and spilling out into the hallway and down the stairs.

They had no need to guess who these people were. Their identity was obvious from the union T-shirts and buttons that they wore.

And if the commissioners were to have wondered why these union members were there, they soon found out when a number of the members addressed the commissioners for a short while, each talk averaging about 15 seconds.

“The messages were that these are the faces and the voices of the employees that will be impacted by contract negotiations,” explains Gordon Smith, Council 2 Staff Representative in Spokane. “They could tell them firsthand of the harm that would be caused their finances were the County’s contract proposals to gain approval.”

It helped, too, that the Spokane County Board of Commissioners meeting was broadcast on live television in the Spokane area.

The union members who attended the meeting represented some 1,100 employees in a total of 13 different Locals who have joined together in a bargaining coalition to negotiate their three-year contracts that start in 2008.

Most of the employees are members of Council 2, but Local 17, the Public Works Guild and Local 280 are joining them in the negotiations, as they have in the past.

The Locals represent deputy prosecutors, corrections officers, support staff, road crew and others in a variety of positions.
The commissioners whom they addressed will have the final say on the financial aspects in the contracts.

It took 18 months to reach agreement on the existing contract, which took effect in 2005, Smith says.

Negotiations on the new contract began in August. “So far, the negotiations are moving along more quickly than last year,” Smith adds.

The two primary issues — cost of living adjustments and medical insurance — are being negotiated in coalition bargaining, which means that the leaders from all the local unions, including some from outside Council 2, meet with the County.

“After three meetings, the good news is that — although we have not reached agreement yet — we have the potential for 8.5 percent increases over the course of three years, whereas in the last negotiations it took us 18 months to reach 6 percent,” Smith says.

“The bad news is the County wants to push more of the medical costs to employees to such an extent that it would wipe out the benefits of the 8.5 percent increase.

“For some members it could even mean a wage decrease, depending on the size of their families and their salaries.”
Council 2 would like to settle the negotiations by the end of the year so the new contract can take place on schedule in January.

To try to expedite negotiations, they have been taking action on a number of fronts. One of those fronts was the attendance by the 200 or so members at the commissioners’ hearing.

“We want to try to convince the County and, in particular, the three commissioners who will have the final say, to work with us more quickly, particularly as far as the medical is concerned,” Smith says.

Did it work?

“Well, the next day they came with an improved proposal,” Smith replies. “Although in the coalition’s opinion it is still too costly to members, at least it marked progress.

“After all, Spokane County is financially healthy, as is the medical-benefits reserve fund.”

The coalition is planning other action soon.