Laborers International bargaining team members on the left, Jimmy Willis, Business Agent Ronnie Burris, Attorney Andrew Bonderud and Bruce Haley meet with County Coordinator Wilbur Dean, County Labor Attorney Wayne Helsby and Human Resources Director Jacqueline Martin.
By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
Laborers International Union of North American Local 630 has filed a grievance against county officials that includes a request for the removal of County Coordinator Wilbur Dean from the county union contract negotiating team for an alleged conflict of interest.
The county is negotiating with the union over health insurance benefits and pay increases. The union says Dean can’t objectively negotiate health insurance for the county commission when he also sits on several boards for Public Risk Management (PRM), an association involved in administering the county’s health insurance plan. Dean says he represents only the county. One of his duties for PRM in 2019 was to serve as company’s executive board chairman.
Levy County Commission employees are insured by Florida Blue but the county paid PRM around $3 million last year primarily to pay health insurance claims but also pay for life insurance premiums. PRM says it has 11 employees and a payroll of more than $1 million annually. But the company, which calls itself, among other things, a Health Trust, hasn’t revealed as much information about its operations as the union wants.
A customer receipt ledger provided by PRM to the union per a public records request shows the county paid $6,621,558 in premiums to PRM for group health insurance between Jan. 1, 2018 and Dec. 31, 2019. In PRM’s bylaws, it is described as a “cooperative consortium” established to provide health insurance coverage to member governments and their employees.
The county commission was informed by PRM in the fall of 2019 that Florida Blue wasn’t raising health insurance premiums for county employees in the coming year. Dean informed county commissioners of what he had been told. Commissioners felt it was good news and took no action.
In its grievance the union said Dean must “be removed as a representative of the Levy County negotiating team and can’t sit at the negotiating table” because he can’t fairly represent the county and PRM. The two sides met for a negotiating session Friday where the subject of Dean’s fairness in negotiations was raised.
“Who do you represent, the county or PRM?” said Ronnie Burris, business manager for Local 630.
“I represent the county 100 percent,” Dean responded.
“I have a hard time believing that,” Burris shot back.
Dean, as the county commission’s chief administrator, has the power to deny the grievance against him, according to the union. The grievance also lodged a complaint against county labor attorney Wayne Helsby. The union accused Helsby of attempting to negotiate by email on Dec. 11, rather than at the bargaining table, when he notified the union’s attorney, Andrew Bonderud, that the county’s previous 3-year contract offer was withdrawn. Helsby said the reason for the withdrawal was the union’s failure to meet a Dec. 2, deadline for a union ratification vote. Helsby didn’t attach as much significance to the email as the union regarding the allegation of cyber bargaining.
The grievance was briefly discussed by the two sides Friday. The union represents the road department and other rank and file employees in the bargaining unit, about 150 county employees in total. A Spotlight reporter was asked by Helsby to leave the room while the grievances were discussed. Helsby said state law doesn’t allow people who are not a party to the grievances to hear what is being discussed. A Spotlight reporter left.
Nothing was resolved regarding the grievance. If Dean denies the grievance, the issues could go to arbitration. The union says it would have the right to subpoena county officials as witnesses and interview them at depositions to obtain the information they haven’t been able to dig up through public records requests’ to this point.
Laborers International dislikes the county’s latest offer for a one year deal giving employees a raise of about $1,500 on their base pay. That’s because the county hasn’t backed off its plan to cap contributions to employee health insurance at $10,000 per employee annually. The health insurance cap has become the biggest sticking point in negotiations. It means all future increases in employee health insurance would be paid by employees. The county commission wants to cap what it spends for employee health insurance to control costs.
Laborers International and the International Association of Firefighters Local 4069 said the cap will result in an immediate loss of wages for employees. The average annual cost of an employee health insurance policy as it stands now is about $11,700, according to the unions. The latest county offer means employees would lose about $200 annually with the $1,500 pay raise, Laborers International says.
IAFF 630’s final offer on health insurance didn’t sit well with the county. The union wanted to leave insurance benefits at their current status minus the $10,000 cap, an offer the county rejected. The county negotiating team declared an impasse.
Laborers International is expected to take the county’s one year proposal to a ratification vote within the next 10 days. If the union votes down the county’s proposal, Helsby said the county will declare an impasse with Laborers International.
Bonderud said he plans to make a presentation to the full county commission in two to three months regarding contract talks.
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Enterprising Reporting by Terry Witt January 3, 2020; Posted January 3, 2020
