County to consider contract that includes raise for jail staff

A group of Merced County jail and detention center employees would see their first pay raise in six years under an agreement to be considered Tuesday by the Merced County Board of Supervisors.

The county has been in negotiations since May with Unit 12 of Teamsters Local Union 856, which represents more than a dozen unarmed and nonsworn employees of jails and juvenile detention centers. The Teamsters’ previous agreement with the county expired June 30, according to county documents. The new agreement would be effective from July 1 through June 30, 2017.

If the agreement is ratified by supervisors, the workers would receive a 1.5 percent increase in their base pay this year and a 2.5 percent increase beginning in 2016. The group of employees, like many others in Merced County, has not received a raise since 2009, said Mike North, a spokesman for the county.

“The county is still slowly recovering from the economic recession,” North said. “From a statistical basis, a recession occurs every six years on average. Right now, we’re past that time frame. The county’s goal is not to overextend itself but to sustain itself for years to come in the overall budget picture.”

Other groups that have received the same wage increase in recent agreements with the county include the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; the Merced County Law Enforcement Sergeants Association; Probation Supervising Employees; and the Merced County Public Safety Services Unit.

Two groups of the Merced County Deputy Sheriff’s Association and the correction officers group of Teamsters still are negotiating with the county.

In recent weeks, the deputies union reported high vacancy rates with deputies leaving law enforcement or seeking jobs with better-paying agencies. The number of vacant positions has grown to 25, said Phil Brooks, the deputies union president, in an interview Monday. The department is budgeted for 98 deputy sheriff-coroner positions.

“I understand everyone is being offered the same package,” he said. “There’s going to be a problem because we’re going to be concerned about any package that’s offered that requires us to give any concessions. We don’t have anything else to give.”

Rudy Gonzalez, the vice president of Teamsters Local Union 856, could not be reached for comment Monday.

This story was originally published October 5, 2015 at 5:35 PM with the headline "County to consider contract that includes raise for jail staff."