King County's labor policies should reflect today's fiscal reality

ALL this talk of asking voters to raise the sales tax to protect King County public-safety programs and preserve the court system is the wrong order of business.

First things first. The county should begin by showing voters it is taking bold steps to get its financial affairs in order. To do that, the Metropolitan King County Council must adopt new labor policies that make it clear county employees are no longer entitled to automatic cost-of-living increases.

The county has financial problems, some of which are attributable to labor policy that calls for a 2 to 6 percent automatic pay increase no matter how the economy is performing. This is the opposite of the real world and it is time to rectify this misguided policy before asking voters for more money.

Councilmember Jane Hague, who chairs the Committee of the Whole, is preparing to call for a vote within two weeks to eliminate automatic cost-of-living pay increases. Let's get to it. Democrats should join Republicans in setting a policy that says such increases are zero in recession years, which is common sense for a county struggling to provide basic services. The council should adopt this sensible policy change post haste.

Then the pressure is on Constantine and the council to insist through additional changes in labor policies that contracts reflect the harsh reality of 2010. County employees should contribute to health-care premiums — yes, even if employees recently started to pay more for copays and deductibles.

The county and the public benefit from having employees contributing to health premiums as a matter of fairness. The executive must lead the way on both labor policies and contracts that accomplish these goals.

There is a sense among some unions that if they just hold on, or just wait it out, that robust revenues will return and employees will not have to give anything back.

Those who await bigger tax revenues are fooling themselves. The county is living in a changed economic climate. The county has to get into the contracts and make key changes. That is the only way to establish credibility with voters who might then be asked if they want to contribute more to public safety.