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King County corrections and detention officers vote to forgo COLA for 2011
Summary
Two unions representing 700 King County corrections officers today announced their ratification of an agreement to forgo their cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for next year, as a result of negotiations guided by King County Executive Dow Constantine. The employees work in both adult and juvenile detention, representing a critical part of the County’s criminal justice system.
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Two unions representing 700 King County corrections officers today announced their ratification of an agreement to forgo their cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for next year, as a result of negotiations guided by King County Executive Dow Constantine. The employees work in both adult and juvenile detention, representing a critical part of the County’s criminal justice system. “Our corrections officers provide secure detention of adults and troubled youth, and I thank them for stepping up to help preserve some of those critical services that protect that public,” said Executive Constantine. “Once again, this is a strong statement of the public spirit among our employees.”
The ratified agreements cover 575 commissioned officers in the King County Corrections Guild and 124 employees in the King County Juvenile Detention Guild, which consists of both uniformed juvenile detention officers and juvenile community corrections officers.
“We recognize and appreciate the dire economic plight currently facing King County and we want to show our commitment to preserving vital public safety services for the citizens of King County,” said Jerry Karstetter, legal advisor for both the King County Corrections Guild and the Juvenile Detention Guild. “Both of our organizations respect Executive Constantine’s commitment to this issue and the cooperative collaboration with his labor relations team, and we are happy to show our support.”
The agreements will save $1.5 million in the County’s General Fund. As with other COLA waivers, these savings will help offset reductions proposed in the Executive’s 2011 budget for public safety services.
Including the corrections and detention officers, a total of about 6,200 represented employees – or more than 56 percent of the County’s 11,000 unionized workers – have now tentatively agreed or voted to waive COLA for next year. More than 13,000 people in all provide King County services to the public.
The corrections and detention officers join jail correction captains, deputy prosecutors, court support staff, and thousands of other County employees from a wide cross-section of county departments who have tentatively agreed or voted to waive their COLA for next year to preserve services. Those include the Animal Control Officers Guild; marine engineers, captains, and deckhands property appraisers in the Assessor’s office; and employees covered by the Washington State Council of County and City Employees and the King County Coalition of Unions.
Altogether these agreements will preserve about $11.3 million in services for 2011. Of that, about $4.3 million of the savings is in the General Fund.
Executive Constantine has frozen salaries for staff in his office and all appointed staff and has been joined by many separately elected officials in putting the same measures in place for their offices.
