Westmoreland County commissioners approve $2.7 million boost in pay

Raises for Westmoreland County’s union and nonunion employees will cost taxpayers an additional $2.7 million in 2024.

Commissioners ratified a union contract and approved pay hikes for nonunion workers Thursday.

A new three-year labor deal with the Service Employees International Union Local 668 and Healthcare Pa. includes average raises of about 12% this year and total salary hikes of more than 17% during the course of the new labor deal. The union’s more than 500 members signed off on the new contract last week.

“It does recognize those high demand jobs that need to be adjusted. I am happy the matter is settled, and it’s a fair contract for both sides,” Commissioner Ted Kopas said.

SEIU members include courthouse workers employed in noncourt-related offices; public works crews, maintenance staff, 911 dispatchers and Area Agency on Aging caseworkers; as well as nurses and support staff at Westmoreland Manor, the county-owned nursing home in Hempfield.

Terms on the new contract were reached in late January after the union gave notice of an impending strike that was to begin Feb. 2.

Human Resources Director Alexis Bevan said the union’s deal includes adjusted rates for medical insurance and a change in the vacation policy that allows new workers to have off days during their first year on the job. In addition to the large raises in 2024, union members will see average raises of 2.8% and 2.5% in the final two years of the new deal.

County leaders also approved 3% raises for nearly 400 nonunion workers.

Commissioners Sean Kertes and Doug Chew defended the nonunion raises as a means to even out pay discrepancies among county workers. Nonunion staff, which includes department heads and supervisors, have received annual raises totaling more than 20% over the last four years, officials said.

“In my analysis, the raises over the last 10 or so years are just barely allowing nonunion workers to keep up with inflation,” Chew said. “So in previous boards they were several percentage points below what the inflation rate was and we have tried to rectify that over the last four years without balancing our budget on the backs of our nonunion workers.”

Kertes said average raises for nonunion staff averaged about 2.3% over the last decade.

“We’ve had issues since the pandemic hiring nonunion positions so we’ve had to make adjustments in those nonunion wages to attract people,” Kertes said.

Commissioners late last year enacted a 32.5% hike in county property taxes to balance the $456.8 million budget for 2024.

Kopas said the county cannot afford the nonunion raises as he voted against the pay hikes. He said raises for nonunion staff should not exceed 2.5%.

Commissioners and other elected officials received 3.5% raises in 2024 under an ordinance approved in the late 1990s that automatically sets pay hikes to match increases in the Consumer Price Index determined by the U.S. Department of Labor.

“In order for us to fix our budget, the work starts now. Obviously we are in a difficult position so raises are one thing that has an exponential effect over the years. So curbing them now protects taxpayers well into the future. I also have been consistent that nonunion raises should not exceed 2.5%,” Kopas said.

Kopas said he capped his own raise to the level he advocated for nonunion workers and last month wrote a check for more than $586 to the county treasury to return the portion of his pay hike that exceeded 2.5%.