MONTICELLO — With negotiations at a standstill, Sullivan County and Teamsters Local 445 appear headed to arbitration over probation officers' workweek and salaries.

Union representatives and members of the Probation Department have been meeting privately and publicly over the past year to work out deep disagreement about compensation.

In the fall, said Probation Supervisor Lou Setren, the county approached the union to negotiate, even though up to that point it had remained steadfast that a contract is in place through 2017 and is being followed.

The county proposed a bump up one salary grade for all existing Probation employees in 2016 (an 8 percent increase) and a switch from a 35-hour workweek to a 40-hour one.

Existing contractual salary hikes would remain - one percent in 2015, one percent in 2016 and two percent in 2017.

Setren said a majority of Probation employees were not in favor of the workweek change, which would necessitate either coming in earlier/leaving later or reducing the unpaid lunch hour to half-an-hour and eliminating the two 15-minute paid breaks each day - breaks that he explained are crucial in allowing officers to de-stress and regroup.

So in October, the county's negotiating team returned with an amended proposal: existing employees could opt to keep their workweek the same, while anyone hired in the department in 2015 and beyond would automatically be on a 40-hour workweek.

The county also stipulated that training and equipping costs of any new hire would have to be reimbursed by that employee if they left within three years (a measure Setren said the union had advocated).

“The union made a counterproposal,” Setren explained, “which was basically a two-grade [salary] upgrade spread out over two years [2015 and 2016].”

In this scenario also, the existing contractual raises would remain, but the current peace officer stipend of $1,500 a year would be doubled to $3,000.

“They're already doing that number for employees with specialized skills,” said Setren (for example, those who can speak more than one language).

The union's counterproposal, however, maintained a 35-hour workweek.

“Working 40 hours will not increase productivity,” argued Probation Officer Kristy Sigelakis. “When you pay staff well, morale increases. You also have staff stay on instead of moving to other counties, as they are being compensated more appropriately. When caseloads are constantly being moved back and forth when a probation officer leaves, work output increases.

“Working more hours does not equal a raise. It is working more hours and having more stress for the same hourly rate,” she stated.

Nevertheless, the county stayed firm on the 40-hour idea.

“That counterproposal was dismissed out of hand without discussion by county representatives,” Setren accused.

That prompted the union this month to file a renewed demand for arbitration.

Union officials have since sent calculations to the county indicating that the union's proposal could cost slightly less than the county's.

“Especially if our numbers are that close, why are we still fighting?” said Setren, noting the county must pay half the arbitration expense. “... Why throw that money away when it could be used to better compensate employees?”

Personnel Officer Lynda Levine disputed those figures, saying the county's calculations differ from the union's. She did not give details, and the Democrat did not obtain the document for independent verification.

Levine, however, did confirm that the county had received the union's demand for arbitration and will likely this week be filing its own request for a stay of arbitration.

Setren characterized the stay request as “a delay tactic,” but Levine said it's to “limit the scope of arbitration” - in other words, to specifically define what will be reviewed and ruled upon by an arbitrator, whose decisions are binding.

“We're just trying to establish the issues before we go into arbitration,” she explained.

She pointed out that a contract is negotiated in part to define pay, raises and employment conditions. So long as that contract is not violated, its terms are legally valid.

“I don't think an arbitrator could force us to reallocate a salary schedule,” said Levine, musing upon the budgetary chaos that would erupt if negotiated, contracted salaries could be changed midway through a contract's term.

In the meantime, Setren said the Probation Department continues to lose trained officers - four since this latest round of negotiations began. Three supervisors, one director and 18 officers remain, including a part-time temporary officer brought out of retirement to handle burdensome workloads.

“We're going to lose more people if we don't get something sooner rather than later,” remarked longtime Probation Officer Debbie Burton, who is considering employment outside her home county.

“Ultimately this is a public safety issue,” Setren insisted. “They're knowingly increasing the chances that something will go wrong.”

Legislature Chairman Scott Samuelson said he and his colleagues remain concerned and are searching for a solution.

“The Legislature very much wants to do something to alleviate the pressure and pain in that office,” he told the Democrat. “We're trying as best we can under the circumstances and the constraints of the contract that exists.”