By: Jim Cline and Kate Kremer
This is the second in a series of articles on recent Interest Arbitration decisions. A summary of all recent arbitration decisions since 2008 is available on the Premium website. This is a decision by Katrina Boedeker concerning Island County Corrections Officers.
In this case, the parties had agreed on a set of 6 comparable Counties: Cowlitz, Clallam, Grays Harbor, Lewis County, Mason County, and Skagit.
The Guild proposed the addition of Whatcom County, but the Arbitrator rejected that request. The Guild argued for the Union-preferred 2-1 band, which would take in County’s twice as large, but the County replied that Whatcom exceeded those parameters. The County also argued that Whatcom has substantially more in revenue than Island County. She cited, as additional reasons for rejecting the Union’s request, the parties bargaining history on comparables and the failure of the parties to present sufficient information on the Whatcom County compensation package.
The Corrections officers had worked without a contract since the end of 2007. The Union proposed a wage schedule as follows:
| 2008 | 4% |
| 2009 | 5.2% |
| 2010 | 2.1% |
| 2011 | 3.7% |
| 2012 | 2.7% |
The County proposed a wage-freeze, arguing severe fiscal distress and citing layoffs and revenue reductions.
The Arbitrator agreed that the County was in severe fiscal distress and had a limited ability to pay. She awarded no base-wage increase through 2012, but did allow a one-time lump sum award equal to 3.4%. In 2013 this amount would be added to the base, plus an additional 2% on September 1, 2013. She also ordered an additional 3% for 2014.
Premium pay. The Guild proposed adding Certified Instructors and Defensive Tactics as a 5% premium. It also proposed converting existing premiums for a flat-dollar amount to 5%.
The Arbitrator agreed to add the Defensive Tactics premium, but did not adopt the Union proposal to convert the flat-dollar premiums to percentage, explaining that “since the employees have not had a wage increase in five years, it is a better use of the employer’s dollars to give across the board wage increases that will benefit everyone, than guarantee an increase in premium pay that will only benefit a few.”
Health insurance. Health insurance was a big issue. The Guild wanted to maintain the 85/15% split. The County wanted to use the Pooled Defined Contribution system that the other County employees were under. The Arbitrator adopted the County’s proposal explaining:
“The employer makes a compelling argument that at this time in the economy,it should be making the same medical contribution for all of its employees. Acknowledging internal comparisons is appropriate. This approach realizes that shared suffering” is a realistic way to deal with the recession.”
She concluded that since 6 of the bargaining unit members were receiving insurance from another source that the employer’s Pooling approach would “[allow] the money to go further.” She ordered the employer, though, to supplement its proposal with a $100 per month HRA/VEBA plan. The Pooled Contribution Rate was set at $974 per month.
Uniforms. The Guild proposed an increase in the Clothing Allowance from $600 per year to $925. The Union argued that the new amount would reflect the rate of inflation since the last increase. The Arbitrator agreed and awarded it. The Union also wanted future increases tied to inflation, but the Arbitrator rejected that request indicating it should be open for negotiations with each contract.
This case reflects what happens when parties arbitrate without complete information. The premise of the Award is that Island County was financially broke. That assumption was erroneous, but the Arbitrator didn’t know any better because of the lack of information located by the Corrections Guild prior to the arbitration. The County did have a significant decline in revenues, but at least some of the layoffs appear now to be self-created through poor budgeting processes.
The Deputy Sheriffs were also headed to arbitration, but that proceeding was suspended when the Deputies Guild discovered that the County was withholding budget records indicating a greater capacity to pay. The County’s stonewalling of the Deputies Guild request was recently found to be a ULP by a PERC Examiner. There will eventually be a Deputies arbitration, and it seems unlikely that the County will convince a second arbitrator that it has an inability to pay.
The Arbitrator’s Health Premium Pooling order was also unusual. Making it even more unusual is that the language of the actual Award did not seem to match the body of the written decision. The Award tied it to the other County employees specifically, but the decision explained that the Corrections officers had uncovered employees, which presumably meant the Pooling could be applied within the bargaining unit. This represents one of the few recent cases in which an arbitrator had imposed a Defined Contribution (cap) on a group that had a Premium Split already established.
