Public Employees

About 2,400 unionized Baltimore County public employees are set to return to work Monday without contracts, following disagreements about workers' contributions to their health care benefits. The stalemate has left workers uncertain about a range of important issues, including vacation and sick leave. Other contract issues not addressed by law include allowances for uniforms and shoes, and paid leave to attend union training and other events. "This is an unprecedented situation for us," said AFSCME Council 67 staff representative Ryan Genovese.

NEW YORK - John Nichol joined the Ohio Public Employees' Retirement System in his hometown of Columbus as an analyst right out of business school. He planned to work there until his own retirement. He bolted after eight years. That was in September, when Federated Investors Inc. offered to raise his $75,000 salary more than 50 percent - before bonus. "For me to leave, there had to be a big incentive," said Nichol, 37, who now runs a utility stock mutual fund at the Pittsburgh-based firm.

Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger III has agreed to give pay raises to nearly the entire police force, angering two unions whose members are not faring nearly as well in his budget. The disgruntled unions, the firefighters union and the Federation of Public Employees, plan to picket the Towson courthouse Monday while Mr. Ruppersberger is presenting his second annual budget to the County Council -- his first major break with employee groups that all backed him in his 1994 campaign against former Executive Roger B. Hayden.

Seeking to forge an independent identity, Baltimore County's 53 sheriff's deputies are seeking the right to represent themselves in labor negotiations with the Ruppersberger administration.If the County Council approves, their Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 25 -- a professional organization -- would become the smallest of the county's six labor groups. The deputies are represented by the much larger Baltimore County Federation of Public Employees, which represents 1,700 county workers."A smaller, more-focused group might serve our interests better," says Lodge President Sgt. Michael J. Corrigan, 43, a 15-year county deputy.

An AFL-CIO affiliated union has won the right to represent 1,600 Baltimore County white-collar workers, roundly defeating the local chapter of the Maryland Classified Employees Association in a hard-fought election.The new union, called the Baltimore County Federation of Public Employees, defeated the incumbent Baltimore County Classified Employees Association (BCCEA) by a vote of 694-222.The new union's parent, the Federation of Public Employees, has 175,000 members nationally and is a subsidiary of the 850,000-member American Federation of Teachers.

Who would have thought it would be so hard to give people money? Late last year when it became clear Harford County was in a reasonably stable financial situation, Harford County Executive David R. Craig announced plans to give county employees — including school system staff — one-time bonuses of $625 prior to Christmas, with the possibility that a second similar bonus would be forthcoming later this year. The move was certainly tinged in politics. Craig has made it clear he plans to run for governor when his second full term as county executive ends two years from now and he won't be eligible for a third.

Six labor unions representing Anne Arundel County government employees have joined forces to press County Executive Robert R. Neall and the council for a 4 percent pay raise.Members of the Public Employees Labor Coalition of Anne Arundel County said at a news conference yesterday that the county executive underestimated revenues in the coming year's budget he submitted to the council on Monday.The coalition -- which includes unions that represent blue-collar and secretarial employees, teachers and school administrators, police officers, sheriffs and detention center employees -- plans to lobby the council to grant the raises during its budget hearings.

Baltimore County retirees and union leaders urged state lawmakers Friday to reject a measure that would limit some public employees' pension benefits, calling it unfair and illegal. At a Baltimore County House delegation meeting in Annapolis, two retirees said the county is already cheating them out of pension benefits. The bill, requested by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, would let the county continue to exceed state restrictions on how much can be deducted from some people's pensions.

Surely, more than a few Carroll taxpayers will complain about the raises just granted to county employees. But they shouldn't carp too loudly: Any good private-sector employer wouldn't wait three years to give his or her workers a raise.Municipal employees, like lawyers, used car salesmen and, alas, journalists, don't rate particularly high in public esteem. Nonetheless, public employees perform important functions, including clearing roads, operating landfills, issuing building permits as well as planning for the county's future.

The recent election of a new president of the Harford County Education Association, the local teachers' union, has the potential to be something of a turning point in the discussion of important matters of compensation for public employees. For many years, much of the public discussion of pay for public sector employees has been centered around one of two extreme and largely unfounded notions. On one extreme is the assertion that government employees are overpaid, under worked and largely unnecessary.