Forensic Techs May End Up on Strike
Posted on: Thursday, 8 May 2008, 12:00 CDT
The eight members of a union in the Franklin County coroner's office have pronounced their contract negotiations dead. They're headed to fact-finding and could strike.
But their beef isn't with their boss, Dr. Brad Lewis, a Republican. He favors market-level raises that would end the poaching of his underpaid employees by other law-enforcement agencies, some as far away as Kansas.
Instead, the forensic technicians say they're being sandbagged by Franklin County commissioners -- three Democrats who have been sued by contractors accusing them of favoring labor unions.
"We're not being unreasonable," said Earl Crowe, collective bargaining representative for the Fraternal Order of Police/Ohio Labor Council unit. "We're such a small unit; I think [the commissioners] think we'll go away. They've got the wrong eight people."
A county spokeswoman said the commissioners said they can't comment on contract negotiations. The commissioners typically have granted 3 percent pay raises to other bargaining units since 2006.
Crowe said the commissioners have misplaced priorities, having given $7,500 last month for bee education and $600,000 to an arts consortium on Tuesday. "They should be taking care of their workers before giving to the symphony and the art councils," he said.
The technicians' jobs include taking photos at death scenes, tracking down relatives, assisting with autopsies and preparing slides.
A forensic technician here makes $33,280 to $40,456 a year. Hamilton County pays $43,898 to $59,751. Cuyahoga County pays $29,622 to $56,451 a year.
Lewis said cross-training his employees saves dollars. His office employs 30 and performed 1,165 autopsies in 2006. He said Cuyahoga County did 1,322 autopsies that year with 75 full-time staff members and five part-timers.
The Franklin County commissioners are said to have bristled at the union's opening demand: A 40 percent raise to equalize pay for employees doing the same jobs in the office.
The commissioners reportedly countered with 2.5 percent across-the-board raises; the union cut its demand in half, and the commissioners raised their offer to 3 percent. The commissioners can ignore the fact-finder's report, and the union doesn't have binding arbitration but can strike.
Lewis, who is independently elected, needs the commissioners' approval for raises, because the board serves as a fiscal watchdog for all county offices.
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Source: The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
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