TRUMBULL COUNTY Child support workers strike after talks

The county auditor forecasts that this year the agency will spend $2 million more than it collected.
WARREN -- Union employees at the Trumbull County Child Support Enforcement Agency are on strike today, unable to settle a contract in weekend talks with the county.
Wages at CSEA range from $9.19 an hour for a receptionist with no seniority to $14.78 an hour for a caseworker with 10 years. There are 55 union workers.
Argument against raises: In negotiations, the county argued that it is unable to increase employee pay because recent plant closures will decrease property tax collections and the economic slowdown will cut into revenue from sales tax. The auditor projects that the county sales tax will generate $700,000 less for the county this year.
The county also has cited the increased cost of health care. The employees currently don't pay for their health care.
County commissioners had earlier rejected a fact finder's report that, on most issues, came down on the side of the county. The major issue where it did not was on the county's desire to eliminate paid lunch, effectively adding another productive hour to the workday.
The workday for members of the American Federation of Federal, State, County and Municipal employees local 3808 now includes 61/2 hours of work, a paid one-hour lunch, and two 15-minute breaks. Getting rid of the paid lunch is the equivalent of cutting employees' pay, the union has maintained.
The union settled on a 3.5 percent pay increase for the first year of a new contract in May, before the three-year contract expired Aug. 1, in exchange for the union adapting the county's uniform schedule of job grades and descriptions.
The agency had been operating on a $4.6 million annual budget, according to director Christina Campbell. The county auditor forecasts that this year the agency will spend $2 million more than it collected from the state and county, which has been contributing $150,000 annually.
CSEA recently laid off 12 workers and planned to furlough three managers as a result of a $500,000 reduction in funding from the state.