Committee approves labor agreement routing after public-defender staff join unions

A Kent County committee approved a human resources action to incorporate non-attorney staff at the county public defender's office into the existing United Auto Workers contract and sent the agreement on to committee and board review.

Amy told the committee that following a union election last year, non-attorney and non-supervisory employees at the public defender's office “went over to the UAW,” and that attorneys formed a separate new union. The county negotiated terms to fold the non-attorney employees into the existing UAW agreement and presented that negotiated contract to the committee.

Commissioner DeBoer moved the action and Board Chair Green seconded; the committee approved the request by voice vote and the chair said the item will proceed to the finance and infrastructure committee and then to the full board (finance on April 21; the full board's date was confirmed as April 26 after some scheduling clarification). The committee record does not include a roll-call tally.

Amy also said this would be the county's tenth union agreement; the committee packet contained the action request for review and negotiation details were discussed briefly during the meeting. The committee did not provide detailed contract language or specific cost figures during the discussion; those details will be considered in upcoming committee/board meetings.

The committee moved on after approving the action; the county will review the negotiated terms in finance committee and at a future full-board meeting before any final adoption.