Westmoreland County inks deal with unions, doles out raises for nonunion workers

A new four-year labor deal with Westmoreland County’s largest unions was approved Thursday that gives raises to workers but also imposes a surcharge on employees who use tobacco.

Commissioners ratified the deal with the Service Employees International Union Local 668 and SEIU HealthCare Pennsylvania, which represents courthouse employees and nursing staff at Westmoreland Manor. The more than 640 full-time rank-and-file union members narrowly approved the deal last month.

The contract calls for workers to receive average raises of 2% in each of the four years of the deal. In addition to those raises, registered nurses at the Manor and 911 telecommunications officers will see an extra bump in their hourly pay. Nurses will receive additional hourly raises of $1.50 and telecommunications staff $2 more throughout 2020.

Amanda Bernard, director of the county’s human resources department, said those additional raises for nurses and telecommunications workers will enable the county to retain employees in what have recently been hard-to-fill positions and allow the county to better compete in the job market.

The deal increases workers’ medical insurance co-payments and, for the first time, imposes a $25 monthly surcharge on staffers who use tobacco products an average of four times a week. The county instituted the same surcharge in 2018 for its nonunion staff.

Bernard said the union deal is expected to cost the county an additional $2.2 million over the next four years. Union workers have been without a contract since the end of December.

SEIU officials could not be reached for comment.

Commissioners, along with Controller Jeffrey Balzer, acting as the county’s salary board, also approved 1.35% raises for 400 nonunion workers. Balzer voted in favor of the raises but said he preferred union staffers receive the same 1.9% raises received this year by the county’s elected officials.

Commissioners said the nonunion raises will cost the county $165,000 this year.

“We wish it was more but, with our budgetary issues, that’s all we could do,” Commissioner Sean Kertes said of the raises.

Commissioner Gina Cerilli said money for nonunion raises was set aside in the 2020 budget, but she originally wanted to wait until this summer to implement pay hikes. “I wanted to see how the budget goes, but I’m not against the raises,” Cerilli said.