In a push that could lead to nearly full unionization of Anne Arundel County employees, the Teamsters are seeking to represent about 650 county workers who are not part of a bargaining unit.
The Teamsters, who represent the deputy sheriffs, are also trying to organize white-collar professionals - mid-level managers, administrators and technical workers.
This disparate group of employees says morale has bottomed out, that county pay scales have become lopsided and that their salaries are growing so slowly that some clerks are earning nearly what their supervisors are.
In recent days, the Teamsters have petitioned the county to hold elections that could result in the union representing the eight sergeants in the sheriff's department and the 34 program administrators in the county jail, groups represented by the Teamsters on an informal basis.
At the same time, union organizers are asking 600 non-represented county government professionals to sign petition cards calling for unionization.
So far, they have about half of the 200 signatures - 30 percent of the eligible employees - needed to bring about a vote, said J. William Mowery, business manager for the Teamsters local based in Glen Burnie.
Unionization petitions must be presented to the county government this month, according to county law, to allow votes on creating bargaining units that would negotiate contracts to take effect July 1, 2001.
A simple majority of eligible workers is needed to create the bargaining unit.
The organizing effort targets accountants, paralegals, engineers, computer specialists and land use planners, Mowery said. Court employees, health department workers and appointees are not part of the drive.
"We need a unified effort to present our issues to the administration, or the future holds the same disappointments of the past," said an e-mail sent yesterday to the professional workers.
The e-mail urges the employees to sign organizing cards during lunch hours at tables being set up in three locations around Annapolis. The petition drive is expected to be completed by Oct. 27.
Workers' complaints
Those involved in the drive say that increases in pay and benefits negotiated in this year's contracts for county workers, police officers and sergeants averaged 10 percent, those for jail guards averaged 9.8 percent, firefighters and sheriff's deputies 7 percent, and clerical workers 5 percent.
Board of Education employees in comparable professional positions earn about 15 percent more than their counterparts in other county agencies, but that disparity will likely rise with recent school system raises.
"We got a measly 2 percent," said one organizer who asked not to be identified out of fear of retribution from government officials. "The only way we can get a voice is to organize."
The organizer, who had no complaints with the raises the other bargaining units won, said professional employees were told that the county lacked the money to give them more than 2 percent this year.
The worker contended, if that is the case, available dollars should be allocated more evenly.
Also, the organizer said, officials should be concerned that workers who keep the county government operating often leave for private sector, county Board of Education, federal and government jobs elsewhere that pay better.
Others are nearing retirement eligibility and the county will not attract competent replacements if its salaries are not competitive, the organizer said.
Union organizers also object to pay-for-performance, which gives employees the equivalent of bonuses that do not count as salary for pension purposes.
Mowery said he is not expecting a warm response from the administration of County Executive Janet S. Owens.
"They are angry in general. I think the fact that it is the Teamsters makes it a little worse," he said.
County's response
But Personnel Officer Randall J. Schultz said the county is taking no position on the unionization drive.
He said his office will look at each petition and decide if it the people who signed meet the criteria to become a bargaining unit.
"We have to determine every time a petition comes in for recognition whether or not that union is appropriate," Schultz said.
For example, he said, having supervisors and the people they supervise in the same unit generally is ill-advised.
Efficient service for taxpayers is another consideration, he said.
Confidential employees are barred from belonging to a union, as are personnel office workers who take part in labor relations.
Also, his office will look to see if the workers in the proposed unit have a "community of interest," such as similarity of jobs.
"We are looking at employees spread across the whole county. It becomes problematic from that perspective," he said.
Organizers said if they cannot get a broad-based union, they will go for smaller units.
Sun staff writer Scott Calvert contributed to this article.
