With pay raises on the line, a Baltimore County judge ordered union leaders and government administrators to resolve a dispute over proposed cuts to employees? retirement and pension plans by this afternoon.
If an independent mediator can?t help the parties negotiate by 4:30 p.m., about 93 county nurses and 1,700 general employees ? who include correctional officers, public works employees and clerical assistants ? will operate under an existing contract, county spokesman Don Mohler said. That means they will avoid proposed pension plan changes but miss out on cost-of-living increases and pay restructuring offered to other unions, he said.
“Hopefully, both sides will come up with an agreement that they feel good about at the end of the day,” Mohler said.
The two groups, county chapters of the Federation of Public Employees and Public Health Nurses, reached an impasse earlier this week on contract negotiations and asked a circuit court judge to allow fact finding, or nonbinding arbitration, until an agreement is reached.
Judge Lawrence Daniels denied the request and reinstated a deadline county officials imposed on grounds they need time to prepare a budget by mid-April.
Other labor unions have reached tentative agreements with the county. In addition to increasing health care costs for employees, county officials want to extend the minimum retirement age from 60 to 65 for employees with less than30 years of service.
The proposal would require about half of the union?s members to work beyond age 60 to receive full retirement benefits, excluding correctional officers who received a separate offer.
Labor leaders called Daniels? decision a compromise and said the existing contract is a better alternative to the proposed retirement plan changes.
“If we are able to keep the retirement and pension plan in tact, I think most of our members will consider that a victory,” Terence Cooper, a union spokesman, said.
