The hits keep coming for Wayne County -- in a negative way.
Its strapped government -- grappling with a $189-million cumulative deficit, falling revenues and rising costs -- now could owe millions of dollars in back pay and interest to about 1,300 workers whose wages dropped 20 percent in 2010-11.
The county acted illegally by imposing the cut, furlough days and a suspension of health insurance to reduce costs, an administrative law judge says.
"The employer violated its duty to bargain in good faith" by "unilaterally and adversely altering the work day, work week and salaries of the affected employees," Judge Doyle O'Connor writes in a ruling reported by the Detroit Free Press.
The decision, after more than two years of litigation, is a win for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the county's largest union.
But the fight isn't necessarily over, according Jeffrey Collins, deputy county executive. He tells John Wisely of the newspaper:
"We may very well take advantage of our right to appeal. . . . Those findings are not final. I'm confident the county will be filing objections or exceptions."
The next steps would be appeals to the Michigan Employment Relations Commission, a state agency, and the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Payments to workers "would be a very expensive proposition," county spokeswoman June West acknowledges in the Free Press.
For now, union leaders are optimistic. "It's wonderful," the paper quotes Thomas Richards as saying. He's president of AFSCME Local 101, which represents road workers. Richards estimates that he personally lost between $8,000 and $9,000 when his pay dropped by a fifth for 10 months. "I'm hoping I can pay some bills."
