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Arbitration Overview
Jan 26, 2018
  1. January 9th, 2018 -Day 1:
    • Day one began with introductions and the County withdrawing their proposal on mandatory shift bid rotation and agreeing to a 3-year contract through 2018. (I guess they feared a mass exodus from their senior deputies. As they should have.)
    • The Guild began presenting its’ case. The parties decided to begin with wages as it was the most extensive piece of our proposal. Our attorney, Chris Casillas made his opening statement, laying out our proposal and some of the reasons behind it. He then called Guild President, Lisa Shanahan to the stand to introduce the arbiter to Pierce County. Lisa presented a power point slide show, created by the negotiations team. It consisted of the population, financial health, crime statistics, and mental health crisis of Pierce County. It also covered the Sheriff’s Department oversight and Jail overview.
    • The second witness called was Kate Kramer. Kate gathers data from county contracts and enters them into a data base. She can then produce documents to show how Pierce County matches up against other comparable agencies. We presented 83 wage charts that covered all aspects of compensation for Corrections Deputies in Pierce County, as well as the Guild’s and the County’s proposed comparables. Kate filled the rest of day one with her testimony. At the end of day one, the County informed the Guild that it would not be making a claim of an inability to pay. This meant that we would not have to call the Financial Analyst we hired to present his findings. WHAT A WINDFALL! THEY CAN NOT SAY MONEY IS THE REASON FOR REJECTING OUR PROPOSAL. This was extremely unusual, but not incredibly unexpected after reading the results of the analysis. (The County has money, they just don’t want to give it to you.)
  2. January 10th, 2018 - Day 2:
    • Day two heard continued testimony from Kate for an hour or more in the morning. Since our guy Stan was now null and void, we began presenting our recruitment challenges and premium pay proposals. First up was Todd Klemme. Todd did a great job detailing the changes made to the hiring standards. He painted a picture that despite a “relaxing or adjustment” to those standards, recruitment was still challenging.
    • Following Todd was Cameron Ashley. Cameron took the arbiter through the DT training program and its’ importance. He walked him through the process of how the instructors must develop a custom program for corrections as the County’s Master DT Instructor is a patrol deputy and his focus are geared for the streets. He conveyed all the time and effort that instructors invest in preparing you for your job and protecting the County from liability. There is no doubt that his team of instructors deserve premium pay for the hours they are teaching DTs. We hope the arbiter agrees.
    • Stanley was next for Firearms Instructors. Phil did a great job explaining our training program and how it varies from year to year depending on the skills that we need to work on. He talked about the difficulty the corrections instructors face in advancing their professional development. (The County won’t send them to training) He also told a story about how he and some other instructors had to pay for their own training. Only after considerable pressing did the County agree to pay them for their time but not the training class, food or lodging. He described the challenges the instructors face preparing a new deputy that may not have ever shot or even handled a firearm. It was clear that the efforts and self-investment these instructors give to our program are deserving of premium pay during those hours of instruction.
    • Sergeant Mastandrea testified to the adverse effects of working grave shift and the toll it takes on the body. He described the number of deputies that experienced heart issues on graves, being tired all the time, or swings not seeing your family because you are at work during the most active time of their day. For this we asked that those shifts be compensated with shift differential.
    • Howie testified to why longevity is important to keep senior deputies around. The experience and wisdom gained through those years of service can help junior deputies learn to resolve situations without the use of force.
    • Hector Hernandez testified to the number of deputies providing translation services for the County. He said he translates daily for medical and mental health personnel. He explains the processes of going through the court system, accessing the commissary items, and how to use the phone to Spanish only speaking inmates throughout the jail. He is once again assigned to booking where he will assist Spanish speaking inmates going through the booking process. For our fluent Spanish speaking deputies who provide this needed service we asked for 4% premium pay.
  3. January 11th, 2018 – Day 3:
    • Day three was the first day at the Guild office, and the day the County would present its’ proposal. It started out slow, as the attorney left his exhibits in his hotel room and had to leave to retrieve them. The County returned and began presenting their wage proposal. Brent and Debbie Young presented the County’s comparables and their wage proposal. They argued that Spokane County should be used instead of our choice, Washington County out of Oregon. Spokane does not have the same cost of living and from our analysis does not meet the criteria to be a comparable for Pierce County.
    • Debbie Young testified that you shouldn’t have longevity because only Patrol Captains get it. We made sure ask her to explain how patrol’s CPO program wasn’t longevity. It didn’t go well for the county as it is evident, it is in fact longevity.
    • Patti testified to rebut our request for premium pays and 40 hours of training every year. She went on to tell everyone how great our FTO program is and because of our training officers and redundancies we can get away with reducing our training from 7 weeks to 6.
  4. January 12th, 2018 – Day 4:
    • Day four was a catch all and we wrapped up the rest of our proposal. Devon Miller told the arbiter about the parking situation. I testified about employee rights and Darryl Herbison rebutted the county’s proposal to allow three volunteers per shift to give back their firearms.
    • Jay Rethaford discussed the holiday double time pay. He explained how this was the County’s language and that the arbitration decision we were awarded reflects the plain language in the contract. He also spoke about the need for language surrounding those out on L & I in order to continue receiving medical benefits past the one-year mark. He described how difficult the County’s third-party insurer, Penser, is to work with; how they delay treatment hoping the employee will just close their claim to get back to work before they are terminated.
    • After testimony the parties decided on March 16th for final briefs to be submitted. After that we will wait on the arbiter to make his decision.


Download:
arb-overview.docx
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