Westmoreland County, union reach tentative labor deal

After announcing plans to strike next month, more than 500 Westmoreland County government workers instead will vote on a new three-year labor deal next week.

Officials on Thursday confirmed that a tentative agreement has been reached. A vote on the proposed contract is set for Monday.

Neither the county nor union officials released details of the tentative agreement, but sources suggested raises will increase about 17% over the next three years.

Members of Service Employees International Union Local 668 and Healthcare PA — which represents employees at the courthouse and Westmoreland Manor, the county-owned nursing home in Hempfield — are the county’s largest collective bargaining unit. They include courthouse clerks, maintenance staff, public works employees, Area Agency on Aging caseworkers, 911 dispatchers and nurses and support staff at the Manor.

Union officials have said prospective pay raises had been a sticking point in stalled negotiations.

The county’s elected officials have received raises in a similar range to those offered in the new union deal. Their increases have been tied to hikes in the consumer price index since an ordinance was passed in the late 1990s. Those nonunion raises were 5.6% in 2022, 7.8% in 2023 and 3.5% this year.

The CPI is calculated by the U.S. Department of Labor and reflects average consumer spending differences over the previous 12 months for food, shelter, energy and other cost-of-living expenses.

The SEIU’s previous four-year contract expired in December and union members notified county officials last week they intended to strike Feb. 2 if a new deal wasn’t reached.

Officials confirmed that both the union and county exchanged final offers to settle the labor dispute this week.

“We have a new offer from the county, and our members will vote on Monday,” SEIU spokeswoman Samantha Shewmaker said.

County officials have spent the past week formulating contingency plans for a potential strike.

Commissioners on Thursday awarded contracts to two private nursing companies to provide additional staffing to ensure the nursing home would remain adequately staffed during a potential strike.

“I feel reasonably confident we are in a good place, but we’ll wait until Monday to be sure,” Commissioner Ted Kopas said.

This story was updated Jan. 26 to reflect it was the county’s elected officials who previously received pay raises.