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Unless a last-minute agreement is reached, Local 1082 members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees say they will walk the picket line Thursday, Nov. 29.

They will carry signs of protest outside entrances to the courthouse, library and administration building, each located on State Street. In addition, striking workers will stand outside the health department, 1109 June St.

The county and union hold disparate views about how the impasse in negotiations has occurred.

AFSCME’s stance is that a compromise was reached after eight months of bargaining about the amount of health care coverage that would be paid by some part-time workers. The union claims the county changed the effective date of the employees’ 3 percent wage increase to Jan. 1, 2008, instead of making it retroactive to July 1, 2007, as previously agreed.

“It has been the county dragging its feet constantly throughout these negotiations,” said Don Loving, AFSCME public affairs director.

“It’s not our fault it’s taken so long in these negotiations, and our members are unwilling to be punished by having their cost-of-living delayed by six months because of the county’s sluggish pace of negotiating.”

Bruce Bischof, attorney for the county, refuted that charge. He said the county has always come to the mediation table when the state has scheduled a session. He said the management bargaining team’s final contract offer is the same as the one which union representatives agreed upon during a prior mediation session.

“There has been no compromise on anything. Those facts are fundamentally wrong,” he said. “We are staying with the proposal that the union agreed to and then reneged on.”

The county’s contract proposal provides for retroactivity of employee wages back to July. But nine part-time single workers are asked to pay $196 per month toward their health care premiums.

Bischof said the union’s final proposal asked that all employees continue to receive 100 percent coverage. He said the county would have to foot a much higher bill because of premium increases. He said a discussion took place during the last mediation session of paying the extra expenses by moving back the raises — but no action was ever taken.

Members of Local 1082 soundly rejected the initial agreement worked out with the county by their bargaining team. They felt it was unfair that some employees get all of their coverage paid while others were called upon to pay half the cost of premiums.

Loving said it was unusual to have members not ratify a contract that had been negotiated, but they always had that right.

“Yes, we had a tentative agreement and 95 percent of the time the key word in the phrase is agreement. But in this case, the key word turned out to be tentative,” he said.

“It’s not a contract unless it’s signed. Period. That’s the way our members feel,” said Hoby Hansen, president of Local 1082.

He said having all workers covered equally would cost the county about $72,000 more in premiums over the three-year life of the contract.

On Tuesday, the county began advertising for applicants to cover the gaps in services that will be left by striking workers. The 52 members of Local 1082 staff these departments: Budget and Finance, Planning/Building, Health, Library and Records and Assessment. Also included are employees from Justice Court and the District Attorney’s office.