The Greene County Board and the local Steelworkers Union that covers employees for the courthouse and the highway department are at a severe impasse.
At a special meeting on September 22nd, the board rejected the contracts for the union a second time by a 4-3 vote. That was the same same vote the board had at their regular meeting against the contract on September 8th.
According to the Greene Prairie Press, the main disagreement between the board members are on the number of contracted hours per week that are scheduled to work for full-time employees, and an office manager’s hourly wage increase. According to the Greene Prairie Press, a $5 per hour wage adjustment for highway department employees was agreed to by the board earlier in the year as well as the $3 per hour increase for the highway department’s office manager at the time Diane Hendricks.
Hendricks left the position at the end of June to become the new treasurer for the City of Carrollton and the Greene County Board then hired Brooke Darr to fill the position.
The unions have been working without a contract since January. Board members Chris Elliott and Andrea Schnelten who were on the negotiation committee for the Board resigned as a result of the failed vote.
The board is also facing similar contention in the coming weeks when it is scheduled to negotiate and vote on the Fraternal Order of Police Union contract.