County acts to impose new contract on coroner's staff

Having declared talks at an impasse after two years at the bargaining table, McHenry County officials are moving to impose a three-year labor contract on its newly unionized coroner's staff, a move that could lead to a strike.

The deal, approved Tuesday by the McHenry County Board's Law and Justice Committee, could put the county's four deputy coroners and the office's secretary in a position whereby they could either work under the proposed conditions or strike.

"Even with the help of a federal mediator, we're still apart," said Robert Ivetic, the county's human resources director. "We, in essence, believe we are at an impasse." Under the proposed contract, scheduled to go before the full county board July 20, coroner's staff will receive a 3 percent pay hike retroactive to December 2008, another 2 percent raise retroactive to December 2009 and whatever increase the county's nonunion workers receive in December 2010. The four deputy coroners, who have not received a raise since 2007, currently earn between $20.93 and $24.32 an hour.

All other conditions of employment, including benefits and hours, would remain the same.

Wayne Lindwall, director of municipal and schools division for Service Employees International Union Local 73, said the coroner's staff will not accept the contract, and hope to continue negotiations. If the county does not return to the bargaining table, he said, the employees will consider striking and filing a federal wage claim accusing the county of not paying them for all their hours worked.

"My people are ready to strike," Lindwall said. "It's not that they think they're better than anyone else, it's that they deserve to get paid for the work they do."

The two sides have met more than 20 times over the past two years, including three times with a federal mediator, while trying to broker the first contract since the coroner's staff chose to form a union, Ivetic said.

The main sticking point between them, he said, has been compensation.

Lindwall, however, said the workers are less concerned about total compensation than by ensuring they get paid for extra time they spend on the job. He believes the county is playing hardball in order to discourage other nonunion workers from organizing.

"We're not seeking $10,000 raises for everybody, but just to get paid for hours worked," Lindwall added.