Montgomery County government workers will be encouraged to switch to a four-day workweek under a new plan by County Executive Ike Leggett that won’t cut government costs, but will reduce traffic and save workers cash.
Right now, 11 percent of the county’s roughly 10,000 employees work four 10-hour days a week. Leggett says county government will still operate five days a week, but the push is necessary to help workers save money while gas prices remain high, and take cars off the road to lessen gridlock and help the environment. His staff estimates that converting 800 employees to work four-day, 10-hour schedules will save 50,000 gallons of gas a year — and cut nearly 1 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions a year.
In July, Fairfax County Supervisor Gerald Hyland asked his colleagues to consider instituting a four-day workweek for government workers that he said would save the county money on energy bills.
Although Montgomery County is facing an estimated $250 million budget deficit for the coming year and Leggett recently proposed two days of mandatory, unpaid leave for county workers, he maintains the plan is not about cutting costs.
“This is not a big savings of money for the county, but it would be for the employees,” Leggett said. “They have to pay to get here every day.”
He also said labor union leaders had not asked him to encourage more employees to switch to four-day workweeks.
Gino Renne, leader of Montgomery County’s largest employee union, told The Examiner just days before Leggett announced the furlough recommendation last week that it would be inaccurate to publish a story about possible furloughs because labor leaders believed Leggett was waiting for additional revenue information before making any decisions.
Renne did not respond to media requests for comment when Leggett announced the plan, and subsequently confirmed he had been blindsided by the recommendation on the Municipal and County Government Employees Organization Local 1994 Web site.
“We endorsed Mr. Leggett in ’06 thinking we could have a positive, collaborative relationship,” Renne said on the site. “His lack of prior notification to us of his plans to furlough excluded us from the decision-making process. … For the record, your union opposes any such action.”
