June 10, 2021 at 1:12 p.m.
Tentative agreements reached with three Cass County employee unions
Union membership for Teamsters 320, which represents deputies and jailers, approved the contract earlier.
Administrator Robert Yochum reported tentative agreements have been reached with Teamsters 346, which represents dispatchers and records personnel in the sheriff's office; with the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) unit representing courthouse employees; and with International Union of Operating Engineers 49 unit representing highway department employees.
Employees in those three bargaining units must vote to accept the tentative agreement before it would take effect.
Negotiations with the AFSCME unit representing health, human and veterans services employees are still in progress.
The approved contract calls for 2.5 percent increase to the county pay plan, effective Jan. 1, 1013, and a second 2.5 percent effective Jan. 1, 2014. It also grants a July 1 step increase in 2013 and in 2014.
Cass has a 50 grade levels on its pay plan. Employees are ranked on a pay grade based on responsibilities their job requires. They generally can move up one step (about 3 percent) within their grade each year until they have worked 10 years for the county.
After 10 years, personnel except the county board receive 1.5 percent multiplied by their monthly salary and by years of service to provide a longevity pay recognition.
While Cass employees in 2010 were granted a 3 percent pay raise, plus mid-year step increase, their total pay for the year actually equaled their 2009 pay, plus a step increase. This is because the county asked all employees to take the equivalent of 64 hours of unpaid time off that year.
While mid-year step increases were approved for 2011 and 2012, the overall pay plan stayed the same those years and did not receive any cost of living increase.
The new 2013-2014 contracts call for the county to pay $944 per month toward the county's cafeteria health insurance program that provides a $2,500 deductible plan. Employees then can chose whether they want to pay additionally toward a family plan or a plan with more coverage.
In 2013 only, employees also will receive a one-time $240 contribution toward insurance expenses.
The person in charge in the jail on each shift earns an additional $1.25 per hour. Deputies, jail and dispatch personnel receive an additional $.80 per hour when working between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m. Snowplow drivers in the highway department are paid time and one-half when called to work prior to 8 a.m.
Most employees qualify for $100 per year to purchase county logo clothing. Land department, sheriff's office and highway department personnel receive between $125 and $875 per year clothing allowance to purchase uniforms. Assistant county attorneys receive $625 "maintenance pay".
Once Cass settles all union contracts, past practice has been to grant on an annual basis the same terms to elected officials, non-union county personnel and probation officers who work under the district court as are contained in the uniform union agreements.
The county board does not have a grade on the pay scale. The board reduced its pay in 2010 by 3 percent to match the 64-hour reduction they asked employees to take and has taken no raises in 2011 or 2012 or 2013.
Second publication rights after Brainerd Dispatch.
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