The collective bargaining agreement between Orange County and the Sheriff’s Office Employees Association seems to have stalled after another negotiation Tuesday night. The negotiations lasted less than an hour although the two parties gathered for close to three hours.
Things got off to a slow start when County Judge Brint Carlton could not get ahold of special attorney Betty Lynn by phone for almost an hour. When she was contacted, Lynn held a conference call with the entire Commissioners Court in a closed session for another hour. After coming back into open session, the Court took no action.
The union had requested a vote of all the Commissioners to consider re-instating certificate pay for the deputies. There was no vote taken in the open session by the Commissioners Court.
The collective bargaining negotiation started with the county making a counter offer to the union’s last request for a seven percent increase in pay. The county offered a five percent raise for the first year and a two percent increase in the second year of the contract. The Association turned down this offer, and countered with an offer of a six percent pay increase which was turned down by the county.
Union attorney Greg Cagle used the word impasse as the two parties left the negotiation table. “I don’t have any other offers that’s our last offer, and he told me that was their last offer, but then he changed it at the end. I don’t know, I guess he didn’t know whether it was his last offer, but he said it was,” Cagle summarized.
Judge Carlton representing the county in the negotiations was not ready yet to call the negotiations stalled. “I wouldn’t say we’re at impasse at this point. Commissioners Court can meet again and kind of assess the situation and see if there’s anything we want to do different, but I think it’s too early to declare impasse,” Carlton concluded.
No future date for negotiations was set. The judgment on a grievance filed earlier by the Employees Association concerning benefits for retirees from the Sheriff’s Office will probably be the next step in the collective bargaining process.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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