LAWRENCE COUNTY Mediator to decide contract

Workers want raises ranging from $3,500 to $9,250.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Lawrence County workers in court-related offices are waiting for a state mediator to decide their next contract.
Michael Zobrak is expected to have a decision in the next six weeks.
Workers in Lawrence County Court Appointed Employees Organization weren't satisfied with the county's offer of a 3.5-percent yearly raise. The sides agreed April 9 to binding arbitration.
Ray Lance, union president, said workers want raises from $3,500 to $9,250 in the first year and cost of living increases for the final two years of the contract to bring them in line with workers in similar-sized counties.
A new health plan has workers paying $10 for doctor visits and $10 for generic prescriptions. Previously, they paid nothing for doctors and prescriptions were $5 each.
Losing workers: Lance said the county has continually lost court stenographers and other court-related workers who find higher-paying jobs in nearby counties.
Susan Quimby, human resources director, agrees that all county workers are not paid equal to comparable counties; Lawrence can't afford it.
"Our wages are lower almost across the board, but our revenue, likewise, is lower. So really, if you do a comparison of revenues and wages, we are OK. But for actual wages we are lower," she said.
Lance said some departments doing similar things get higher wages, he said.
Court security officers, which is Lance's position, want their base salary to be equal to deputy sheriffs. Lance said that in most counties, deputies provide court security.
Pay difference: There's about a $7,000 difference in pay. Court security officers start at $15,650, while new deputies earn $22,770. "We do all of the same things ... we should get the same pay," Lance said.
Quimby disagrees.
"Right now we don't consider them equals. The sheriff's deputies are transporting inmates on a one-to-one basis. They are serving warrants, they are serving protection-from-abuse orders. The court security people are just up in the courts normally," she said.
Quimby said what the union has asked for "exceeds all the money that we have in the contingency fund for the whole rest of the year which covers the whole county."
Total amounts were not available.
There are 32 people in the union: courtroom security, stenographers, lawyer referral staff, law librarian, court administrator's staff and adult and juvenile probation.