As Washtenaw County administrative staff works on an expedited schedule to negotiate seven union contracts, more unions are asking the county to extend the deadline of their contracts before the right-to-work law takes effect March 28.
It’s a tight schedule, as all union contracts must be approved by the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners at its meeting March 20.
Chris Asadian | AnnArbor.com file photo
The law will remove a clause requiring employees to pay union dues as a condition of employment — effectively opening shop to workers who do not want to join a union.
The union negotiations affect the county’s budget process, said County Administrator Verna McDaniel.
McDaniel said the county is willing to negotiate contracts up to 10 years in length to accommodate the requests of the unions — but the county has to get certain benefits out of the agreement.
“We are wiling to do up to 10 years for county units. We would need certain agreements in order to that to happen,” McDaniel said. “We would need some substantial economic benefit to do a 10-year contract.”
Those agreements could include concessions from the unions. McDaniel said the county would like reduce its employee legacy costs, including pension and health care.
“I would say the tenor of the negotiations is positive,” McDaniel said, noting that she’s cautiously optimistic about the outcome. “Our Board of Commissioners are optimistic and they see this as a way to support our employees.”
Five units of AFSCME Local 2733 and two units of AFSCME Local 3052 were the first to ask the county for expedited contract negotiations. All seven of those contracts were set to expire at the end of 2013.
The contracts cover the majority of Washtenaw County administrative employees; most employees of the family division of Juvenile Center and of the Juvenile Detention facility; and all employees in supervisory roles with the exception of department heads.
Just this week, McDaniel said eight other unions representing county employees have approached human resources and labor relations director Diane Heidt to open their contracts for negotiations as well.
The contracts could be challenged in court, said Derk Wilcox, a lawyer at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
“I would certainly say it’s risky,” Wilcox said. “These processes typically take months Any new contract needs new consideration. If they don’t get something in exchange then the contract’s not legitimate.”
Three-year contracts have historically been the norm, Wilcox said, and are legally problematic when they go longer than that.
According to the National Labor Relations Act, a union cannot guarantee employees that it will be their representative after three years, Wilcox said.
Employers may want to keep indemnity clauses requiring the union to cover legal costs if the contracts are challenged in court, he said.
Amy Biolchini covers Washtenaw County, health and environmental issues for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at (734) 623-2552, amybiolchini@annarbor.com or on Twitter.