CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT AGENCY Contract expiration date looms

Commissioners and the union go back to the bargaining table next week.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- It's been nearly six months since clerical employees at the Mahoning County Child Support Enforcement Agency walked off the job in a dispute over their wages.
Though the strike lasted only one day, there is still lingering resentment and mistrust among employees who think they were treated unfairly by commissioners.
"I would not say it's behind us," said Dee Crawford, executive director of the county Department of Job and Family Services. "It's still an undercurrent of anything we propose to do over there." The CSEA is a branch of JFS.
Protest: The agency's clerical workers went on strike April 9 to protest the county's refusal to grant them a 5 percent raise during the last year of their three-year contract. Judge Maureen A. Cronin of common pleas court ordered them back to work the next day..
Commissioners had argued there was no money available for raises. They said funding cuts from the state had created a $1.3 million deficit within the agency, which commissioners subsidized with money from the general fund.
The union's contract expires in December, and commissioners and union officials are preparing for another go-round. They're hoping that the talks, which begin next week, are more harmonious this time, though a union official said there's much to be done.
"A lot of the problems we had then still exist," said Marcel Trevathan, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3577.
Caseworkers are still badly overloaded with cases, employees still want raises and there's a long-standing problem with the way payroll is calculated, which rankles employees more than anything else, Trevathan said.
Software problems: For years, workers have been shortchanged because the agency's payroll software does not recognize when they are due increases for stepping up on the pay scale.
Commissioner Vicki Allen Sherlock said commissioners understand the matter is frustrating and are trying to help. They have hired an accountant to pore over the agency's payroll records and correct the deficiencies.
"We have never disputed the fact that some employees are owed money," Sherlock said, though no one is sure just how much money is involved. The project has been delayed because the auditor has asked for guidance on the scope of what he's to do.
"The bottom line is that we will do whatever is necessary to get this taken care of," Sherlock said.
Uncertainty: County Administrator Gary Kubic and J. Kevin Sellards, human resources director, said it will be difficult to talk about raises because there is still a lot of uncertainty over the agency's financial condition.
Commissioners hoped to know in July how much money the county will receive from the state to fund the agency but still hadn't heard as of midweek. The state's funding is in flux because legislators must decide how to come up with additional money to fund education, Sellards said.
"You can't run a department like that," he said. "How are we supposed to know what we're going to have to work with?"
Crawford said the caseload, about 1,000 per employee, is deceiving. The number is high, but employees don't handle each of those cases every day, or every week.
"You only pick up a case if there is a court order or some reason to have to deal with it," she said.
New hires: Trevathan said the agency needs to either hire more people or work with employees to restructure duties. Crawford and Kubic said neither is likely to happen until after the Ohio Auditor's Office finishes a performance audit of the agency.
"I do not want to hire anyone until I have results of that audit in hand," Crawford said.
Sherlock said a large part of the problem has been a lack of communication between commissioners and the union, but she intends to change that, something Trevathan said will be a welcome change.
"The only way we're going to be able to serve the public is as a team," he said.
bjackson@vindy.com