PORT ANGELES — Sixteen Clallam County workers who received layoff notices last week will keep their jobs after all.
The good news comes in the wake of an emergency meeting of the Teamsters Local Union No. 589.
Union members voted overwhelmingly Monday night to accept wage concessions to save jobs, Commissioner Mike Chapman reported Tuesday.
“I think, as a community, it’s a very, very bright day,” said Chapman, a member of the county’s bargaining team.
The concessions are the same as those approved by six AFSCME 1619 — American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — unions at the county: 16 unpaid furlough days and deferred cost-of-living pay raises.
The furlough days will be taken as unpaid vacations on yet-to-be-determined Mondays in 2012.
The tentative agreements with the unions will be formalized next week, Chapman said.
Clallam County was forced to lay off 15 other workers last month to help bridge a $2.7 million budget gap.
The 16 people who received a layoff notice last week were all Teamsters members.
Teamsters voted again
Teamsters voted against the concessions Nov. 17, but some members questioned the procedures of the vote.
More than 30 Teamsters members stood up at the Nov. 22 commissioners meeting to indicate they were not satisfied with the vote.
Monday’s vote was different.
“Today, we are reporting that last night in an emergency meeting and a overwhelming vote of upwards of plus-100, Teamsters has worked with the county to preserve jobs, to preserve services, to accept concessions in a tough economy, and I think they should be applauded,” Chapman said.
Commissioner Mike Doherty concurred.
‘Tremendous hit’ averted
He said the loss of another 16 jobs would be a “tremendous hit” on local businesses and school district enrollment.
“Some people have lost their homes,” Doherty said.
“This could have been much more devastating than it looks like it could be now if all things come together by next Tuesday.”
Commissioners will hold public hearings on the 2012 budget Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. in the commissioners’ meeting room (Room 160) at the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.
Chapman said he and others have worked “virtually nonstop” on union negotiations since September.
“These are complicated agreements, but I think we came together to preserve services, jobs and to work within a very difficult economy,” Chapman said.
“And that is very significant and should not be overlooked.”
Thanked union leaders
Chapman thanked Local 589 representative Dan Taylor and county-employed union leaders for working with the county to preserve jobs.
Taylor was not immediately available for comment Monday afternoon.
“I, for one, am very grateful for the work that we’ve been able to do,” Chapman said.
“We started this in September with an all-day meeting with various union leaders and explained the difficulty of a tough economy and where we were in the budget.”
Chapman added: “We will have a balanced budget this year.
“We are cutting the budget, and we worked very hard with our labor forces to be at this position, and I think that the public should appreciate the sacrifice,” Chapman said.
“Some of these cuts are upwards of 10 percent for next year.
“We’re not talking around the edges. We’re talking significant reductions, significant concessions offered by labor and management alike.”
Doherty thanked county Administrator Jim Jones and budget Director Kay Stevens for their work on the budget and Chapman for working with the unions.
13 preliminary budgets
Jones and Stevens drafted 13 preliminary budgets this year — compared with two in a typical year — and are currently assembling the final 2012 budget.
“All across the nation and across the state, there are these budget challenges,” Doherty said.
“We’re coming to that challenge a little bit late because we did have a bit of a reserve that buffered us for a couple of years.
“But it’s getting to be a tighter pinch. So this year, we had some pretty tough decisions.”
Commissioner Steve Tharinger, who also serves the North Olympic Peninsula as a 24th District state representative, was not present at Tuesday’s county commissioners meeting.
Tharinger was in a special legislative session in Olympia trying to cut $2 billion out of the biennial budget.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
