Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

County OKs union contract with 2 percent pay cut

Updated Tuesday, April 19, 2011 | 5:41 p.m.

Click to enlarge photo

Don Burnette

County employees will take a 2 percent pay cut and new employees will pay more for health insurance under a new contract with the county’s largest union approved Tuesday by Clark County commissioners.

The contract with the Service Employees International Union Local 1107 covers employees for the county and the Clark County Water Reclamation District for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. It also covers some non-union employees.

The agreement will save the county more than $9 million over a year -- $7.8 million from union employees and nearly $1.3 from non-union employees.

Commissioners cut their own pay 2 percent on March 15. They then approved a 2 percent pay cut for non-union management employees April 5.

In a vote in the days following those cuts, 87 percent of union members voted to approve their contract.

Union President Al Martinez called the cuts “shared sacrifice.”

County Manager Don Burnette said the cuts are not enough to solve the county’s budget problems, but is a major step forward.

He also said when the current 2 percent cut is combined with the 2.8 percent cut SEIU employees took in their previous contract, it is about the same as cuts taken by some of the county’s smaller unions, such as the one representing park police.

The contract also calls for new employees to pay 10 percent of their health and dental insurance premium per month. Currently employees will continue to pay their same contributions, which average 8.3 percent.

Employees will also remain eligible for longevity and merit pay, which were not negotiated due to a previous agreement.

Commissioner Steve Sisolak was the sole commissioner to vote against the contract, arguing against the inclusion of merit increases. “This is not a cut, it’s an increase,” he said.

But those areas might be cut in the next contract, for which negotiations will begin immediately, county officials said.

Commissioners also said the contract doesn’t mean more layoffs or other cuts are not coming, but the goal is to avoid that.

The county has already laid off 364 people and has left other vacancies open to save money.

In a separate action, commissioners approved a resolution freezing longevity pay for non-union managers at the county, water reclamation district and University Medical Center.

The resolution does not decrease any employee’s current pay, but responds to some of the commissioners’ concerns that some employees were still going to get pay raises this year despite the 2 percent pay cut.

Since management employees aren't in a union, commissioners can change their longevity without bargaining with employees. Union employees will keep their longevity this year, but commissioners have expressed a desire to have it eliminated or cut back in the future.

Sisolak said the freeze gives commissioners a year to deal with the issue while saving money during the current budget crisis.

The freeze will save about $123,000 from county employees, $5,000 from water reclamation employees and $46,000 from UMC employees.

Also Tuesday, commissioners approved a contract with the Clark County District Attorney Investigators Association.

That contract also calls for a 2 percent salary cut and a suspension of merit pay for the 24 union members, saving the county $125,890. But the contract became a bigger issue for the commissioners than the larger SEIU contract.

Sisolak, who again was the lone vote against the contract, ridiculed the investigators for getting a large clothing allowance when the job requires no specific uniform.

The new contract calls for the investigators to get an annual clothing allowance of $1,200 instead of $1,720.

Sisolak said such allowances should be eliminated unless it is for someone like a police officer with a specific uniform they only use on the job.

The investigators said they have to look professional for court appearances and clothing gets worn out quickly with sometimes dirty investigative work. They said their work is similar to a police detective's, who also get clothing allowances.

Sisolak said he also has issues with those allowances.

Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani said she agreed with Sisolak, but approved the contract anyway, on the condition that the county manager look into eliminating such clothing allowances.

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