From day-one County Management played a shell-game. County Managers said there was no money. They said it in bargaining, in the press and before the County Commissioners. “Miraculously” they found money for Metro PPA and offered millions to buy-off our members at the sixth and final day of bargaining. It looks like County Management PLAYED non-Union workers by freezing their merits WHEN THEY DIDN’T HAVE TO! Our Bargaining Team and Contract Action Team stood strong and refused to sell-out our members, so Clark County Management declared an impasse.
Throughout months of bargaining, our Bargaining Team and members of the Contract Action Team stayed focus. We said No More Takeaways and we wouldn’t waver when County Management tried to use the same tired smoke-and-mirrors tactics we’ve seen in the past. We kept saying the money is there and management kept saying, show us!
We were shocked when County Management offered millions at our sixth and final bargaining session, because this is what they had been saying for months:
“We’re not interested in any proposals that are going to cost us money.”
- Jesse Hoskins Clark County Bargaining August 3, 2011
“The County is in a bad fiscal situation. We still have a financial gap of millions of dollars and looking at these proposals, what it does is add to the structural deficit. $42 million dollars is a serious situation.” - Jesse Hoskins Clark County Bargaining September 15, 2011
“The compensation is something we’re not able and willing to do at this time. It’s something that we’re just not interested in.”
- Jesse Hoskins Clark County Bargaining October 6, 2011
The County bargained in bad faith throughout the process. We congratulate our Bargaining Team and Contract Action Team members for seeing through this façade, enduring baseless charges of bad-faith bargaining, holding the line on no takeaways, and fighting for increases for everyone.
Our Offer: A two year contract including a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) increase for ALL employees (Freeze year one and 1.5% increase year two), a longevity increase (freeze year one and .57% increase year two), and preserving longevity for new employees and for our future! Cost: Saves the County $16 million dollars!
County Management’s Offer: Meager, false-hope increases in merit (1% year one and 3% year two) that not all employees would qualify for, freeze on longevity increases and no longevity for new employees. Cost: $4 million dollars more than our proposal!
County Management portrayed us as greedy and selfish. They convinced a few Commissioners that we were being unreasonable, but in the end, it looks like all they were trying to do was leverage the bad economy to take a core benefit that our Union values. We saw the same tactics used in Wisconsin, Ohio and in Carson City. Now it’s being played out in Clark County. We will likely go to fact-finding with County Management in a short amount of time, until then, SEIU will continue to DEFEND LONGEVITY, fight for increases for all employees, and protect middle class jobs!
Contact a member of the Bargaining Team or the Contract Action Team with any questions you have about bargaining. You can also contact SEIU Representatives: Angel Rangel 409-9255, Tom Vanderpool 413-4825, or Yoni Johnson 210-3007.