Oakland County government workers call for fair contract agreement

(CBS DETROIT) – The picket line is growing Wednesday afternoon at the Oakland County government building as members of UAW Local 889 have not reached what they call a fair contract agreement after they went to the bargaining table in May.
The union’s contract is set to expire at midnight on Sept. 30. 
Dozens of members held an information picket outside the county building Wednesday and are calling for county administrators to recognize the cost of living and agree to a fair contract. 
Joe Rozell, second vice president of UAW Local 889, claims the county has experienced record property tax revenue and says union members want a general salary increase that represents the inflationary environment.
“The members are fired up,” said Rozell. “We are being told by the administration there is no money. They have made the best offer they can make, but the members see the spending every day, and we see the financial statements. They’ve chosen to make our members not a priority, and our members are fed up.”
Union members are prepared to strike if an agreement is not met. As public employees, members of UAW Local 899 would not be paid if they went on strike.
In response to Wednesday’s information picket, Oakland County release the following statement: 
“Oakland County has worked in good faith to reach a fair contract with our UAW employees. The proposal offered more than two weeks ago is one of the most generous labor agreements in our history. We have been consistently transparent about our financial situation, and have offered to open our books to a UAW financial actuary, which local UAW leadership has currently declined. If they accept this opportunity, we are confident they will conclude that the budget data is accurate, and that additional costs would require a cut to other services, our core mission and potentially our workforce. The idea that we should use funds from departments of other hard-working Oakland County employees is unacceptable. We cannot balance this contract on the backs of other county employees or the services we provide to our 1.3 million residents. We respect the right of our employees to demonstrate, and believe that with greater cooperation, we are close to an agreement that our employees would welcome.”