It was no Madison, Wis., but about 100 public employees in Fairfax County turned out this week to rally in support of what would be their first pay raise in three years.
Their effort likely won’t go far — Fairfax County Executive Anthony Griffin didn’t include raises in his proposed fiscal 2012 budget, and county supervisors, wary of raising the tax rate in an election year, have done little more than express condolences.
Unlike unions in neighboring Maryland and the District, Virginia unions cannot collectively bargain for wages, stripping them of the best tool for gaining the pay raises and concessions common to peers in, say, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.
Karen Conchar, president of the county’s chapter of the Service Employees International Union, said that instead, her members work to accomplish their objectives by “partnering with Fairfax management and the Board of Supervisors,” and “coming out for the candidates we have voted to support.”
About 1,000 of the 6,500 eligible county employees are members of Fairfax’s SEIU, Conchar said.
Supervisor Pat Herrity, R-Springfield, supports the idea of raises, but not by raising the tax rate. Instead, he said he’d like to see a system in which departments create financial savings throughout the year, and then are allowed to use part of those savings for bonuses at the end of the year.
