Nehls, Cavanagh protest workers’ criticism
County employees Stacy Louie of Smithfield (left) and Cindy Keefer of Brownsville hold signs protesting the pace of contract negotiations with the county during informational picketing on Main Street in Uniontown Thursday. The workers, members of Local 668 of the Service Employees International Union, also distributed flyers critical of commissioners Ron Nehls and Sean Cavanagh. Fayette County’s largest employee union is “furious” at the pace of contract talks, but the way they vented that disenchantment Thursday left Commissioners Sean M. Cavanagh and Ronald M. Nehls feeling unfairly singled out for criticism.
During informational picketing prior to the commissioners’ meeting, members of Local 668 of the Service Employees International Union distributed a flyer that chided Nehls and Cavanagh for some of their fiscal management decisions but left Commission Chairman Vincent A. Vicites comparatively unscathed.
During public comment, SEIU business manager Rose Cindrick also zeroed in on Cavanagh and Nehls, urging them to “scrap” a planned $115,000 personnel assessment for county employees and to eliminate the fiscal analyst job, in order to save money that ostensibly would go for higher union wages.
Cavanagh and Nehls said it’s ironic that those two positions mirror ones staked out by Vicites in the waning months of 2002, when they voted to replace longtime personnel consultant Felice & Associates with Select HR and to keep the fiscal analyst job on the books.
Nehls took offense to union representatives questioning management decisions made by the commissioners in their role as the county’s chief administrators. “If you want to run the county, run for commissioner,” said Nehls at one point.
Cindrick urged the commissioners to get involved in the contract negotiations, noting, “We need the commissioners at the table.” A law firm subcontracted through Select HR is handling negotiations on the county’s behalf.
Cavanagh took offense to the union flyer, noting that its claim that the county had offered only a 1 percent salary increase was untrue. He said it was “no secret” that the county had budgeted for a traditional 3 percent raise for 2003, but he noted the union wants a 6 percent raise this year.
“I think I’ve been personally attacked here … and I don’t appreciate it,” said Cavanagh, who added that bashing Select HR won’t solve any problems and carving up the fiscal analysts’ salary among 180 county employees wouldn’t provide much extra increase.
Cindrick said that according to statistics provide by the United Way, the “living wage” for a single person with two children in Fayette County is $34,659 per year, far above what most county employees earn.
While agreeing that wages need increased, Vicites stressed that he wants further information on the total value of the county’s employee compensation package, including benefits, so he can better determine where Fayette employees stand in comparison to other counties.
“People need a living wage … but we have to balance that with the interests of the taxpayers,” said Vicites, who added that if the county can’t do anything beyond 3 percent this year, it might be able to sweeten the new three-year deal in years two and three.
Nehls, Cavanagh upset
After a post-meeting digestion of the contents of the union flyer meeting, Nehls called the press saying he felt compelled to respond to numerous misrepresentations.
“For them to say that I gave my personal secretary a 43 percent raise … I didn’t even want one,” said Nehls of the position. “There are absolute falsehoods in there. I don’t want to let those pass.”
Nehls said all three county commissioners, including Vicites, agreed to put the standard 3 percent salary increase in this year’s budget. Nehls said he now finds it interesting that the union is parroting “almost to the letter” the things Vicites has been saying all along.
“It’s really a shame when Commissioner Vicites is in a position where what he’s saying is exactly the same thing that the union negotiators are saying,” said Nehls. “I’m not going to say that (it’s political). But it certainly could lend one’s thinking in that direction.”
Cavanagh was more blunt, issuing a press release in which he portrayed Vicites as trying to undermine, politicize, disrupt and manipulate the union negotiations for his own political gain.
The commissioners are up for re-election this year.
Cavanagh said the county has offered the union an 11 percent salary increase over three years – 3 percent this year and 4 percent in 2004 and 2005. But he said the union wants an unrealistic 19 percent wage hike over that span, with a 6 percent raise this year and 6.5 percent in each of the following years.
Cavanagh said there’s no way the county can give the union what it wants without raising property taxes.
“Vicites has been meeting with the union on a unilateral basis, telling them that he is all for them but his hands are tied (by the other commissioners),” said Cavanagh. “How can Vicites give out false promises to the union when he knows full well there is only 3 percent budgeted? I think his actions are shameful and counterproductive … Does Vicites have a magic wand? How can the county give a 19 percent increase during a recession? Is that fair to the taxpayers of Fayette County?”
Cavanagh said that he and the county have bargained in good faith and have “made a contract offer that is consistent with the county’s fiscal condition and economic realities.”
Vicites: ‘Cavanagh is a liar’
Vicites took umbrage at Cavanagh’s comments, saying that he has not promised the union anything and has not undermined the negotiations. Vicites said all he has done is respond three times when the union has asked for commissioner intervention.
“My meeting with the union has been to listen to their concerns and problems, and what’s on their minds,” said Vicites. “I have not made any proposals to them; I have let the (county’s) union negotiator handle that.
“Sean Cavanagh is a liar,” added Vicites. “That (stuff) is not true. Ask the union if I’ve interfered. Sean always attacks people for his own personal gain … It’s just a pattern that he has, attacking people and running them into the ground. His actions have been shameful for seven years.”
Cindrick said no politician had any influence on the union’s printing and distribution of the flyer. “Vince Vicites is not the mastermind behind any of this,” she said.
Cindrick noted that when the union has asked for the commissioners’ collective ear, Vicites has responded all three times, Cavanagh twice and Nehls once.
“We are not giving Commissioner Vicites a free ride. We feel that the commissioners are equally responsible,” said Cindrick. “But as we have asked for help, Commissioner Vicites has been there and he’s been at the table. Commissioners Cavanagh and Nehls have not been there.”
Cindrick added that the employees in her union believe that the money being paid to Select HR should have stayed with in the county – and that they should have gotten a portion of it in the form of even higher wages.
Cavanagh said that Felice & Associates is based in Westmoreland County, so the money the county has traditionally paid for personnel-related work and contract negotiations has never been kept within the county borders.
Cavanagh and Nehls each said that it’s ludicrous for anyone to suggest that they are not interested in reaching a fair contract agreement with the union.
Nehls added that while he’s keenly interested in reaching a deal, he’s comfortable leaving the nuts-and-bolts negotiations to the professionals as they are experts in that field.