County, Jailers Enter Arbitration Over Pay
Spokane County has become the first local government in Washington state to go to arbitration over the issue of correctional officer salaries.
Thomas Levak, a Portland arbitrator, spent two days in Spokane hearing arguments about pay, working conditions and salaries for the 120 correctional officers.
The employees have been working without a contract for more than a year and negotiations broke down last July. It has taken that long to schedule a hearing.
Unlike mediation where an independent party encourages consensus, an arbitrator’s decision is law. State lawmakers granted correctional officers binding arbitration in 1993.
The county offered its jail employees a 3 percent increase for 1994 and cost-of-living increases based on the inflation index for 1995 and 1996. The union requested pay hikes of 4.5 percent in 1994 and a guaranteed 4.5 percent hike in 1995. It also asked for higher entry-level pay.
The union was asking for the same pay hikes given to sheriff’s deputies and commanders. County commissioners maintained jailers do not have the training or expertise as deputies and should be treated similar to other courthouse unions.
The county always avoided arbitration with deputies because laws allow arbitrators to look at comparable salaries all along the West Coast.
The union presented salary and work information for three counties in California - Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Sonoma; and three in Oregon - Lane, Marion and Clackamas; and one in Washington - Clark.
The county presented comparable data for the Washington counties of Snohomish, Pierce, Kitsap, Clark, Yakima and Benton.
Union representative Bill Keenan said they were very selective in choosing comparable counties. Union staff chose areas only with a similar population and assessed property value as Spokane, looking as well at jail style, size, bookings and correctional staffing.
“They disputed ours (comparables) and we disputed theirs, that’s how it works,” said Keenan.
“If both sides agree on the comps you just add up the numbers,” said Skip Wright, county human resources director. “The arbitrator will ultimately determine the comparables.”
Correctional officers with more than 10 years at Spokane County make $33,049 a year.
According to county comparables, that’s about right. According to union figures, its 15 percent below what it should be and starting pay in Spokane County is 24 percent below the norm. It also takes much longer for officers here to reach top scale, according to the union.
Arbitrators are not bound to look at what each side offered at the bargaining table.
“He can go less, he can go higher, he can do anything he wants,” said Keenan.
Both sides will split the $700 per day cost of the arbitrator and Spokane County is paying Seattle attorney Otto Klein $190 an hour to argue its case.
xxxx Arbitration Unlike mediation where an independent party encourages consensus, an arbitrator’s decision is law.