Following many months of negotiations that one participant described as a “marathon,” Lehigh County human services workers have a four-year contract that provides annual raises but left some union members angry over concessions.
Lehigh County commissioners Wednesday night voted unanimously to approve a pact with the SEIU Local 668, which represents about 160 human services workers. The collective bargaining agreement — which spans Jan. 1, 2019, to Dec. 31, 2022 — includes pay hikes of 2.5% for 2019 and 2021 and 3.15% for 2020 and 2022.
The contract covers employees in such departments as Children and Youth, Mental Health, Early Intervention, Drug and Alcohol, Crisis Intervention and Integrated Family Services.
Commissioner Amanda Holt said the agreement was the result of “hard-fought negotiation.”
“This was a marathon negotiation,” Commissioner Percy Dougherty said.
Frank Gerlach, an SEIU Local 668 shop steward, gave the pact mixed reviews.
“We’re grateful to have a contract but it left a lot of people feeling very bitter,” he told commissioners.
The union membership approved the agreement but he declined to say by what margin.
One of the union concessions was members will have to pay more for their health care benefits, according to Gerlach, though he didn’t cite specific amounts.
Union negotiator Michele Fritz of South Whitehall Township read a letter from a co-worker who described how concessions the county required on the accrual of sick leave will be a hardship to her family.
Gerlach said employees were feeling the effects of understaffing in human services, and union negotiators tried and failed to get the county to agree to hire more people.
“We service the most vulnerable populations,” he said. “We go into difficult situations.”
Gerlach and Fritz said caseworkers frequently have to go into potentially dangerous situations — situations police might encounter — but have no form of protection, such as Mace or bulletproof vests.
The county commissioners took over labor negotiations from the county executive branch in February 2015 after complaining about a lack of information being provided to the board. Commissioners hoped that by taking control of negotiations, they would move more smoothly and reduce employee frustrations.
After Wednesday’s meeting, Lehigh County Executive Phillips Armstrong said he’d like to see commissioners involve his administration in negotiations.
“We’re full-time and they’re part-time, since most of the commissioners have other jobs,” said Armstrong, who added that sometimes a contract negotiating session can last 12 or more hours.
“I think that’s an undue hardship for some of our board members,” he said. “So it gets strung out longer.”
Margie Peterson is a freelance writer for The Morning Call.
