EVERETT — A union representing more than 400 city employees has filed a grievance accusing the city of hiring temporary employees to do work that a contract says permanent, union employees should do.
"They’re having day laborers do the same work as regular staff," said Monte Turner, president of Local 113 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Recently there were some instances in which permanent employees were laid off and seasonal workers were kept on, even though the work they did was similar, he said.
"The concept of having day laborers and seasonal workers is just that: seasonal needs, and that’s something we understand," Turner said. "The problem is when you have those seasonal workers hired to work back-to-back, and they essentially work the entire year doing work that could have been performed by regular workers."
The city’s director of human resources, Sharon DeHaan, said she’s looking into the accusation.
DeHann said that there have been instances in the past in which AFSCME has alleged that the city has hired temporary employees back-to-back.
In some of those cases, the city agreed with the union’s allegation and fired the temporary employee, and in other cases it denied the allegations.
DeHann agreed with Turner that there are times when temporary employees perform similar duties as permanent workers. But she said that’s because much of the work in some departments — especially in the parks and public works departments — is seasonal in nature.
The Washington State Council of County and City Employees is planning to file a complaint about the use of temporary workers with the state Public Employment Relations Commission, said Pat Thompson, the council’s deputy director.
The union had planned to file the complaint this week but needs more time to finish its research, Thompson said.
Reporter David Olson:
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