Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/243343
Sarasota News Leader January 17, 2014 Page 15 Information Administration now puts that number at $3.33. "We've had no increase in the amount of income to our family," Blake told the commission. Altogether, about a dozen employees testified Wednesday. Several talked about how the wage freeze has damaged morale, which is "in the dirt," one worker said. "There is no morale," another argued, disputing the claim that firing Reid has improved employees' outlook. One parks employee said that while pay has stayed flat, he is being asked to come to work on Saturdays and to cut hours during the week, meaning he's on the job six days a week. The county's counter-offer to the union included a $1,000 lump sum, plus a 3 percent merit pay raise for fiscal year 2014 only. Zahalsky pushed back on the merit pay idea, arguing that because supervisors grade employees on a bell curve, many would be left out. Interim County Administrator Tom Harmer rejected a union pay plan offered in October. File photo Commissioner Nora Patterson acknowledged that point, moving to amend the county's proposal to make it an across-the-board 3 percent raise, backdated to Oct. 1 of last year, the first day of the current fiscal year. Commissioner Joe Barbetta seconded that proposal, which eventually passed 4-1. With the commission's vote, County Attorney Stephen DeMarsh's office will now draft a contract laying out the details and present it to the union. Teamsters International Representative Mike McElmury tells The Sarasota News Leader he's not sure how the proposal will be received. Vice Chairwoman Christine Robinson, who spoke personally about growing up in a blue-collar household, was the lone board member to vote against the counter-offer. "It's not lost upon me the hard work that the county workers do," she said, later adding, "I appreciate the work that's done, I appreciate what you go through and I appreciate the fact that you're here today to participate." "They might be satisfied with this — a true 3 percent raise," he says. "They still didn't get nearly what they lost, but it's a step in the right direction." But there are no guarantees that this dispute, which has now dragged on for more than two years, is anywhere close to finished. As McElmury put it, "At the end of the day it's up to the members." %