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Pinellas workers ripe for union?

By WILL VAN SANT
Published August 24, 2005

CLEARWATER - A union local in Orlando is gauging the willingness of Pinellas County workers to organize.

Richard Lyons, business manager for Laborers' International Union of North America Local 678, said county employees had reached out to him and complained that management reneged on a promised salary hike early this year.

In response, Lyons has identified 1,146 county employees whofall into what he called a professional class, which is distinct from blue-collar workers and white-collar managers. All told, about 4,200 people work for Pinellas County.

Those in the professional category - which includes building inspectors, accountants, animal control workers, engineers and architects - were sent cards a month and a half ago asking about their interest in a union.

The effort led Pinellas County Administrator Steve Spratt to send a letter of his own earlier this month. In it, Spratt cautions that workers who sign the cards will likely be pressed to become union members and that the $30-a-month dues is too much for what organized labor can deliver.

"I just don't see any real benefit," Spratt said in an interview.

Lyons, whose organization represents employees of 13 cities and counties in Central Florida, including Orlando and Brevard County, said he is preparing his own letter.

Salary discussions held in January may have sparked the union effort. County personnel director Dave Libby said he proposed breaking with precedent and adding a 2 percent across-the-board pay increase to a 5 percent merit adjustment for the 2005-06 fiscal year.

After discussion with an advisory board that includes Spratt, Libby and the heads of various county offices, it was decided to jettison the 2 percent across-the-board hike in favor of merit pay adjustments of up to 7 percent.

Libby said workers should not have been left with the idea that the 2 percent was guaranteed.

In about three weeks, Lyons will tally the responses to his cards. Usually, he said, at least 60 percent support is required to move forward. The next step, according to Lyons, is to petition the state Public Employees Relation Commission for a vote.

But senior assistant county attorney Bill Falkner said that's not how to proceed. In the 1970s, he said, Pinellas created its own local version of an employees relation commission.

The commission includes three members and an alternate who are appointed by the County Commission. The group would be responsible for certifying the list of county workers eligible to vote and holding the election.

[Last modified August 24, 2005, 01:14:20]