MAYVILLE - The county's contract negotiations with its CSEA union will move to mediation.
CSEA officials said Wednesday that the union has come to an impasse in its talks with Chautauqua County. As a result, a neutral mediator will be appointed to meet with both parties to try to hammer out a compromise agreement.
In announcing the impasse Wednesday, Rose Conti, CSEA Chautauqua County unit president, said the deal proposed by the union would have saved taxpayers close to $2 million over the life of the contract.
"For what we believe are purely political reasons, the county is giving up the opportunity to save $1.7 million over the next two years, plus additional savings that would come from changes to workers' health insurance coverage," Conti said. "We want residents to know that this union found ways to reduce costs and offer savings, but the county executive turned away a chance to save a significant amount of money."
The previous four-year contract expired Dec. 31, 2011. Negotiations between the union and the county had been underway since August 2011, according to the release issued by the CSEA.
County Executive Greg Edwards was reached for comment while driving back to the area from Albany on Wednesday. Edwards had been in Albany for a meeting of the New York Association of Counties. As such, Edwards had not received the CSEA's news release and said he will be in a better position to respond to it after having returned to the county and meeting with his negotiating team and the county's human resources director.
The CSEA Chautauqua County Unit represents 1,000 county workers. The labor union is one of five unions negotiating contracts with the county. Four of the contracts expired at the end of 2011, though one, the contract for the Civil Service Employees Association Unit 6322, expired in December 2009. That particular CSEA unit represents part-time sheriff's deputies.
The other four contracts are for the Sheriff's Supervisors Association, which represents lieutenants; the Deputy Sheriff's Association, which represents primarily road patrol personnel; the Sheriff's Employee's Association, which represents primarily jail personnel; and the CSEA led by Conti, which represents many different general positions in the county, from laborers to supervisors.
"Our members are the front-line workers that provide the needed services to the taxpayers and residents of Chautauqua County," Conti said Wednesday's news release. "We recognize these are difficult times and we believe our proposal - with the near $2 million in savings - takes today's economy into account. County workers deserve a fair contract and to be treated with respect."
There is little county officials can say though about ongoing negotiations. Saying too much, Edwards explained in August, could leave him open for an improper-practice charge by labor leaders.
"The objective is to go into negotiations with an open mind to comprehensive and global solutions, and the wage issue is only one part of the package," he said in August.
According to The Post-Journal's records, the last contract ratified for the CSEA Unit 6300 featured a retroactive 47-cent pay raise for 2008; 3 percent pay raises in 2009 and 2010; and a 60 cent pay raise in 2011. In the years since that contract's ratification, however, the CSEA has changed its insurance twice to save money at the request of the county. CSEA officials also cited the recent early retirement incentive when the county asked to re-open contract negotiations early.