Harford deputies' union urges legislators to support bill for collective bargaining

The salary scale for Harford County Sheriff's Office deputies must be fixed, or the agency will continue to lose experienced personnel to counties with better pay, and have greater difficulty recruiting new deputies, according to union leaders, who are pushing for collective bargaining rights.&quot;I'm concerned that if this continues on the same course of conduct, I don't know where the county Sheriff's Office is going to be in 10 years,&quot; Aaron Penman, vice president of the Harford County Deputy Sheriffs' Union, told Harford's state senators and delegates last week, when he and union president Mike Montalvo made their pitch for necessary state enabling legislation.The union wants collective bargaining with binding arbitration. It started a petition drive for county legislation over the summer, only to abandon it after the union's lawyer and the Harford County Department of Law agreed such legislation can only come from the Maryland General Assembly because the Sheriff's Office is legally considered a state constitutional agency.Penman and Montalvo shared their concerns about a salary scale they described as off-kilter because deputies did not get raises for eight years. They asked legislators to support a collective bargaining bill in the 2017 session of the legislature when it convenes in mid-January.If approved, such legislation would mandate that union representatives could bargain with county government officials, who fund the Sheriff's Office budget, over salaries, benefits and retirement, or an outside arbitrator could mediate if the two sides could not reach an agreement, and then the union and county government would have a contract.Montalvo noted without a collective bargaining agreement with the county, there is no obligation upon the county executive to negotiate with the union. He praised Harford County Executive Barry Glassman's willingness to work with the union but stressed legislation should still be in place.&quot;There's no transparency and there's no systematic way to make sure that meeting takes place,&quot; Montalvo said.The legislation is needed because the deputies are employees of the elected sheriff, a state constitutional officer. Legislation must be passed at the state level so deputies are covered under county personnel regulations, and then the union can negotiate with the county executive, according to Montalvo.A number of county agency heads, including the county executive and Sheriff' Jeffrey Gahler, met with the legislators during a day-long pre-session meeting Thursday held at the Abingdon Library. Gahler and Glassman appeared in the morning, the deputies union leaders in mid-afternoon.Both the sheriff and county executive expressed mixed views on the issue, while the legislators were non-committal about introducing any legislation.&quot;None of the deputy sheriffs are trying to ask for anything we don't deserve,&quot; Penman told the legislators.He said the county government approved a pay plan, with annual steps, or salary increases, in 2007, but those steps have not been funded for many years.Glassman, who took office in December 2014, put 3 merit pay increases for deputies, as well as all other county employees, in his budget for fiscal 2016 and 2017.In the current budget, which took effect July 1, Glassman also provided addition supplement merit increases of 3 percent for deputies at the rank of corporal and 6 percent those at the rank of deputy first class and senior deputy officers, meaning those deputies who qualified received 6 percent and 9 percent increases, respectively.Union leaders said, however, that the deputies have not caught up on their 10-year-old pay scale. There were a number of years prior to Glassman taking office that pay steps were frozen.Penman said deputies who have been with Harford County for 10 to 12 years could go to another law enforcement agency, and &quot;within two or three years, they could be caught up, they could surpass what they're making now,&quot; plus potential recruits are going to other agencies where they can make &quot;a significant amount more.&quot;Gahler also acknowledged the pay issue and its impact on recruitment and retention during his earlier presentation.&quot;I am all for fixing our pay structures,&quot; he said.Gahler said the recent pay increases provided by Glassman caused a &quot;compression issue,&quot; with some two-year deputies making the same as nine- and 10-year employees.He cited the pay scale as a factor in recent struggles to form full-strength police academy classes for law enforcement deputies and corrections officers, explaining that there are not enough applicants to compete for open positions, something he has not seen before in a 30-year law enforcement career.&quot;If they hadn't done anything that excluded them from being considered, we were offering them the job,&quot; he said.The sheriff also noted he does not support collective bargaining, but he said bargaining over pay is a separate issue because he does not control the purse strings.He does not want collective bargaining over issues such as scheduling, hours and uniforms and other work-related issues.&quot;I'm elected by the people to run the sheriff's office to the best ability that I have, in the direction that I see fit as the elected sheriff,&quot; he said. &quot;If I'm not doing a good job, then the people speak when they un-elect me after a term.&quot;There is also an ongoing pay study, being done by an outside contractor, that the Sheriff's Office is paying for. Erik Robey, head of the agency's Office of Community and Legislative Affairs, said Thursday that it should be finished in a few weeks.Glassman said he does not object to employees bargaining with their employer, but he does not support binding arbitration, as that is not available for other county employees, the majority of whom are unionized.He has stressed to all employees that he cannot &quot;reverse eight years of neglect&quot; of salaries overnight, and he has suggested the Sheriff's Office find savings in its budget.Although the legislators did not take a position on collective bargaining legislation Thursday, Del. Rick Impallaria, the delegation head and brother of a Harford County deputy who formerly headed their union, expressed his concern about recruiting issues.Del. Susan McComas told union leaders that the union has one view, while the sheriff has another and the county executive has yet another.&quot;If there's no consensus you're going to put the delegation in a rather odd position,&quot; she said.

Harford deputies' union urges legislators to support bill for collective bargaining

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