Whatcom is asking workers to take unpaid leave as revenues drop amid COVID-19 pandemic
Many Whatcom County employees are being asked to take as much as four days of unpaid leave this summer to offset funding shortfalls from the economic recession caused by the new coronavirus pandemic.
Members of the Teamsters Local 231 approved an agreement to take 32 hours off without pay before Sept. 12, 2020, the union said at its website Thursday, June 25.
“The other avenue is layoffs and our bargaining unit really wants to avoid that,” said Rich Ewing, secretary-treasurer of Local 231.
“it’s a big impact on a lot of these folks to give up that much in such a short amount of time,” Ewing said told The Bellingham Herald.
But he said that the workers understand that they are doing their part to help the county keep employees working.“
Jed Holmes, spokesman for the county executive’s office, told The Herald that the Teamsters’ furloughs will save $576,000.
“The county’s bargaining team and business representatives from Teamsters Local 231 have worked closely over the last six weeks to reach an agreement to implement furloughs over the next two months,” Holmes said in an email. “We recognize that this wasn’t an easy decision for the membership, but I think we all recognize the many people in our community are suffering and making sacrifices today.”
Holmes said the County Council will consider similar cuts for non-union workers at its July 7 meeting, and officials will be asking other unions for similar wage concessions.
Salaries for elected officials such as council members and the executive are set by local ordinance.
Seven bargaining units represent Whatcom County employees, according to the Whatcom County website and its 2019-2020 budget document.
There are 853 full-time and 60 part-time employees, the county’s Human Resources Department told The Herald.
Local 231 members are the county’s largest union, with 424 active members, Ewing said.
His bargaining unit represents workers in the courthouse and juvenile detention, as well as the Planning, Parks and Public Works departments.
It was unclear whether Sheriff’s Office deputies, command staff and corrections officers at the jail were being asked to take similar furloughs.
Washington State Nurse Association represents 17 registered nurses in the Health Department, but spokeswoman Ruth Schubert said the union hadn’t received a furlough proposal from the Health Department.
And no information was available about the unions representing Environmental Health and the Women, Infants and Children program or the Lummi Island ferry crews.
Whatcom County has been preparing for budget cuts since the pandemic hit and Gov. Jay Inslee ordered most businesses closed March 24 to create social distancing that would reduce virus spread.
That meant a certain loss of revenues from sales taxes, property taxes, fines, fees and licenses.
Full impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the 2020 budget and beyond remains unknown, said Finance Manager Brad Bennet during a County Council discussion of priorities for the 2021-2022 fiscal years.
But recent figures have shown that revenue losses are initially less than expected, Bennett told the council on Tuesday, June 23.
“The sales-tax reduction was less than we thought it would be,” he said. “The next step is getting access to the data and seeing why it was less, why we didn’t suffer as much as we thought. Property taxes did a little better than we thought too, also, so revenues — I mean at this juncture it’s still early in the pandemic — but at this point, it looks pretty good.”
Meanwhile, council members suggested that the next two-year budget cycle should reflect cuts of 10% to 20%.
Councilman Rud Browne told The Herald in an interview that he thinks the county should act swiftly to curb costs.
“The single biggest lesson I learned from managing a business in the last recession was if I could do anything over, I would’ve moved quicker,” he said.
