By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
The public labor union representing Levy County ambulance personnel and firefighters rejected a contract offer Friday that would have raised base pay by $4,700 over three years but would have capped employer health insurance contributions at $10,000 per employee.
In the Aug. 23 letter, Katy Graves Yanok, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 4069, said union members discussed the county proposal and decided they would not take the contract offer to a ratification vote where it was certain to fail.
“The response that I received was by a unanimous decision, that they would vote the contract down,” she said. “As this time IAFF Local 4069 understands that the County would pull all previous offers off the table and would come back with new proposals as you stated in the Aug. 14, 2019 negotiation session.”
The county commission offered to give employees a $3,200 pay raise in the first year of the three year contract with the understanding that $1,700 of the money would offset health insurance costs, which are at the heart of the negotiations. In year two, the county offered $500 of additional pay and in year three, $1,000 more pay. All the money would have been added to employee base pay.
Union members feared health insurance costs in the second and third years of the contract could have wiped out the raises if there were unforeseen increases in premium costs.
Yanok could not be reached for comment Friday night.
The status of the contract negotiations with Laborers International Union of North America AFL CIO Local 630, which represents the county road department, is unknown. The union hasn’t notified the county that it plans to reject the contract offer.
County Commission Chairman John Meeks said he was disappointed in the decision by IAFF Local 4069 to reject an offer he thought was fair and would have brought the starting pay of many lower paid employees much higher by raising base pay by $4,700 over three years.
He said he believes many employees would prefer to get a bigger paycheck and more money in their pocket than more health insurance. He said the county needs to increase starting pay for the employees making the lowest salaries.
“That’s the frustrating part. I think there are some folks who could use the money more than the insurance,” Meeks said.
Meeks said he has always strived to be fair to employees. He said the decision two years ago to stop paying for employee family health insurance coverage without negotiating the issue with the unions was “a miscommunication.” Other than that, he said employees have nearly always received yearly pay raises.
The fact that the county is no longer paying for employee family coverage has reduced claims, he said, and Blue Cross Blue Shield has responded by freezing raising health insurance premiums next year.
He believes the county and the unions can find common ground when they go back to the bargaining table.
“I’m not going to raise taxes to raise wages. I think that’s a bit much, but I think we can work things out and come to an agreement,” Meeks said.
He said the county commission can’t give raises with money it doesn’t have in the budget.
Levy Board of County Commission & Union Contract Negotiations August 23, 2019
