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CSB, union rescind pay-raise request
YOUNGSTOWN
The Mahoning County Children Services Board and the union representing its employees have agreed to withdraw their request that the county commissioners approve 3 percent annual pay increases for CSB’s union workers.
The request was made on the eve of the county commissioners’ last opportunity to timely vote on the proposed pay raises, which would have come in today’s 10 a.m. commissioners’ meeting in the county-courthouse basement.
If the county commissioners had taken no action in a 30-day period expiring Friday, the raises would have taken effect automatically.
“The board and the union understand and appreciate the economic climate in the county,” said Denise Stewart, CSB executive director.
“Clearly, the priority is providing service to the abused and neglected children in our county,” Stewart added.
Richard Shrader, president of Communications Workers of America Local 4300, which represents CSB’s union workers, could not be reached to comment.
In her letter to the county commissioners, Stewart said CSB and the union will continue negotiations concerning alternative ways “to retain experienced employees.”
She noted that her staff is on round-the-clock call for emergencies but cited austerity measures, including unfilled staff positions and less-costly and less-restrictive placements for children in her agency’s care.
The child-welfare agency and the union “are sensitive to the economic climate of the county while emphasizing the importance of maintaining a well-trained staff to respond to the most-vulnerable members of our community,” Stewart added.
The decision to rescind the request allows the child-welfare agency, the CWA and the county commissioners to save face concerning what had been a hotly debated issue.
Anthony T. Traficanti, chairman of the county commissioners, had called the proposed raises “unconscionable” under current economic conditions.
His colleague, outgoing Commissioner David N. Ludt, called for a county wage freeze and said it would be unfair to grant the raises.
The raises were contained in a three-year contract, effective Feb. 1, 2009, which CSB negotiated with the CWA.
The increases were never granted to the 115 bargaining-unit members because the county commissioners approved the contract, but with a salary freeze. The union represents clerical and group-home workers and social workers at Children Services.
The union recently asked that the raises be revisited; and CSB approved them Nov. 16 and sent the matter to the commissioners, just two weeks after voters renewed a 0.85-mill, five-year real-estate tax, generating $1.75 million annually for CSB.
Children Services officials said the proposed raises were intended to help the agency retain staff members, whose starting salary is lower than that of their colleagues in neighboring counties. Mahoning CSB social workers earn about $32,000 a year.