Westmoreland commissioners approve new labor deal, suspend work rules for nonunion staff

Westmoreland commissioners last week ratified a new labor deal for the county’s largest municipal police force and issued the temporary halt of a hiring policy that officials claim has skewed hiring and pay scales throughout the government.

The commissioners approved a five-year contract with the Park Police Association of Westmoreland County that represents about 40 officers who patrol at the courthouse, parks and other county-owned properties.

Human Resources Director Alexis Bevan said the contract, which will run through 2029, includes no specific raises in the first year of the deal, but realigns the department’s pay scale to reflect higher pay for members. The deal includes 2% raises in the each of the final four years of the contract and other adjustments to the pay scale, she said.

“This new labor deal respects the very important work, and sometimes dangerous work, that our law enforcement personnel do and hopefully we will also address some of the challenges in hiring new officers,” said Commissioner Ted Kopas. “This puts them on par with local law enforcement agencies.”

The park police force saw a change of leadership following the December retirement of Chief Henry Fontana. The commissioners earlier named the Jeff Shearer as his replacement. Shearer since 2019 served as a captain and second-in-command of the department.

The labor deal was among several actions approved by the county’s salary board, which also included what officials said was a temporary suspension of work rules for the process of how unionized workers transfer to nonunion jobs within county government.

It’s a process that has been in place since the late 1990s, and the commissioners said has led to inflated salaries and difficulty in retaining some unionized workers.

“This came up as part of a discussion that has been going on for years here. If you were a union member transferring to a nonunion position, you got an automatic (salary) bump of 5%,” said Commissioner Sean Kertes. “Because of that bump it would throw people off that (pay) scale.”

Commissioners said the policy, which also allows workers in new positions to retain their seniority status, has led to pay inequities among staff with identical job responsibilities.

The work rule suspension, which will be in place for two months, will halt those incentives as commissioners work to revise and amend the policy that dictates how job transfers impact pay.

“People are getting outrageous wages that are above and beyond the core functions of that job,” Kopas said. “I think it is important we evaluate these routine policies to make surely we are not overpaying positions.”