County approves 2 union contracts
Six out of eight of Butler County’s employee bargaining units now have new agreements.
The county commissioners on Wednesday accepted arbitration awards for the 67 court-appointed clerical and technical employees, and the 66 court-related clerical and technical workers. Both units are represented by the Service Employees International Union, Local 668.
The four-year contracts, which are retroactive to Aug. 1, include a 2.5 percent pay increase for this year and 3 percent increases for 2016, 2017 and 2018. The contracts will expire Dec. 31, 2018.
County solicitor Mike English said the commissioners had no choice but to accept the agreements because they went to arbitration.
“Under the law, the arbitrator has the final say,” English said.
With these agreements, 300 of the county’s 451 union employees have new contracts. All of the previous contracts expired Dec. 31, 2014.
In April, the county’s four detectives — represented by Butler County FOP Lodge 107 — agreed on a three-year contract. In May, 55 administrative professional employees represented by SEIU, Local 668 approved a four-year contract.
In August, the county accepted arbitration awards for the 98 corrections officers at the county prison and for the 10 assistant district attorneys and assistant public defenders. Corrections officers are represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and the ADAs and APDs are represented by the United Steelworkers of America.
The county has not yet come to an agreement with the SEIU unit representing the county’s 115 administrative clerical and technical workers and the 36 employees represented by the Probation Officers Association.
English said he had no update on the status of negotiations with the remaining two units.
