Negotiating a union contract from the left are Laborers International Union of North America representatives Jimmy Willis and Dean Shouse; next to them County Human Resources Director Jacqueline Martin, County Labor Attorney Wayne Helsby, County Coordinator Wilbur Dean, International Association of Firefighters President Katy Yanok, LIUNA Business Representative Ronnie Burris and LIUNA representative Bruce Haney. The group met at the former Bronson High School cafeteria. The county commission bought the old BHS campus and is converting it to office space.

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            A public labor union representative Monday accused county government of squeezing the lifeblood from employees by proposing to cap their health insurance benefits.

            Ronnie Burris, business agent for Laborers International Union of North America Local 630 said the county commission stopped funding employee family coverage the last time the contract was negotiated.

            Now it wants to cap health insurance contributions by the board.

            “I understand (health) insurance is the biggest issue all over the country but you can only get so much blood out of a turnip. We’re about out of blood,” Burris said.

            Burris met with County Coordinator Wilbur Dean, county labor attorney Wayne Helsby, Human Resources Director Jacqueline Martin, International Association of Firefighters Local 4069 President Katy Yanok and IAFF Vice President Chris Castleberry.

In an earlier meeting, Yanok asked for an 8 percent pay raise for IAFF Local 4069 and for a temporary additional 25 percent hazard pay to operate unsafe ambulances. The hazard pay would go away when the problem of overloaded Mercedes Sprinter ambulances was resolved.

Dean and Helsby made identical offers to both union groups but without specific numbers. Helsby said the county wants to cap what the county commission contributes for health insurance and provide an increase in wages to compensate for loss of insurance benefits.

            Helsby said the county also wants to eliminate the practice of allowing sick and vacation time to be counted toward overtime pay.

            Burris countered by proposing to count any additional hours worked by an employee beyond the eight-hour shift as overtime pay.

            Helsby said the county negotiating team is trying to set up a shade meeting where county commissioners can discuss contract strategy behind closed doors. Dean said commissioners wanted to wait until after they enjoyed summer vacations with their wives and children before they held the shade session.

            Elected boards are permitted to meet behind closed doors with their attorneys to discuss such matters as union contract strategies and lawsuits filed against the board.

            The two unions represent their membership, but their bargaining units consist of all the eligible county employees who aren’t members of management.

            Helsby wanted specific numbers from Burris on wages in particular but Burris said he had to meet with the membership first before he could get back in touch with the labor attorney.

            The overloaded ambulances are an important issue with Local 4069 representing paramedics, EMTs and firefighters. The Mercedes Sprinters were first purchased by the county when former Public Safety Director David Knowles was in charge. The county recently discovered the ambulances are too small to carry the weight of passengers, crew and some of the heavy medical equipment.

            EMTs and paramedics are worried about their personal safety and the safety of patients while operating the tall ambulances that have a narrower box on the back of the chassis. They say the ambulances are difficult to bring to a stop and don’t handle well on corners and aren’t stable because of the overload.

            Public Safety Director Mitch Harrell said the county has ordered three Ford 550 ambulances for this year. He has added three additional wide bodied ambulances in the 2019-20 emergency medical services budget, but he said county commissioners must approve the expenditure. The plan is to purchase three wide-bodied ambulances every year until they have replaced all the Sprinters instead of borrowing money and buying them all at once.

            The county commission, at its most recent regular meeting voted tentatively to retain the current Emergency Medical Services Special Assessment on property rather than possibly raising it as they had discussed the previous year. They voted to leave the EMS, fire and landfill assessments at current rates.

            Their property tax millage rate is tentatively set at 9 mills, the same as the current year.

            Commissioners are fighting to keep their spending under control to avoid unbalanced budgets that were common in the past. When an elected board overspends its revenues, it is deficit spending.

            But labor union officials said the county employees are extremely low paid and their benefits are eroding as the county tightens its budget belt. Officials say the county is trying to balance its budget on the back of employees.

            “The problem is you keep taking it away from employees and they don’t make much as it is,” Burris said.

            Helsby said the cap on health insurance contributions would come with a two tier raise, including an increase in base salary of employees plus an increase in wages. But once the cap was is in place, county employees would absorb future increases in health insurance costs. The county currently pays the entire cost of health insurance for its employees. Employees pay for family coverage.

            Bruce Haney of LIUNA, which represents the road department, was concerned about Levy County Transit drivers potentially losing overtime. He said they already work 12 hour shifts and probably drive exhausted. He didn’t think it would be fair to lose overtime benefits.

            The Levy Transportation Disadvantaged Coordinating Board recommended a substantial raise for the underpaid transit drivers but the raise has yet to be implemented while union talks are underway.

            Burris said the current trends in county government give him the impression that the county wants to abandon using local government employees and switch to private businesses doing the work.

            Helsby said that’s not the case.

            Negotiations with the unions have to be completed sometime in August or early September before the county commission gives final approval to the millage rate and next year’s budget. But the negotiations with the unions, particularly the IAFF, have sometimes dragged on well past adoption of the budget and were resolved much later.

Levy County Labor Contract Negotiation Meeting July 29, 2019; Posted July 29, 2019