Open forum: Working with labor

Recently, I wrote to the presidents of each of the unions that represent county employees to ask them a simple question: How can your members contribute to a fair deal for all working families coping with the current economic squeeze?

As chair of the council’s Management and Fiscal Policy Committee that is charged with financial decision-making, I take my oversight role concerning the county’s budget seriously. And I know there are serious challenges facing all but the wealthiest residents of this community.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the past year the price of eggs has skyrocketed 35 percent, milk is up 23 percent, a loaf of bread costs 16 percent more and a pound of ground beef has jumped 8 percent. Overall, the rise in U.S. food prices is expected to be at least twice the yearly average.

Families who never clipped coupons or stopped buying name and luxury brands are doing so for the first time. And with the price of gas projected to hit $4 a gallon, or even $5 down the road, daily expenses are just out of control.

For seniors and others on fixed incomes who already live on the margins, this recession is not just difficult, it’s frightening. For all of us, including an increasing swath of the middle class, this economy is a nightmare. As county officials look for ways to close the budget gap, it is unfair to ask working families to shoulder the entire weight of balancing the budget. How much higher taxes can they bear? How deep cuts in social services can they take before slipping into crisis?

My colleague council Vice President Phil Andrews has observed that personnel costs account for 80 percent of the county’s budget. Union leaders, who naturally seek to get the best deals they can for their members, negotiated a raise of 4.5 percent for most county workers in fiscal 2009 on top of a 3.5 percent boost based on years of service. Each percentage increase across all agencies has a $25 million price tag. Councilman Andrews has said, ‘‘It is inevitable that we are going to have adjustments to the salary and benefit increases.”

That’s why I’m asking union leaders, ‘‘If your members were given a choice between a reduction in COLA [cost of living adjustment] or involuntary layoffs through each contract’s provisions for Reduction in Force, which option do you think your rank and file would find most acceptable?” I’m not being anti-union or anti-worker by asking this question, far from it.

As the granddaughter of a union organizer and a lifelong friend of labor, I support unions and their mission to enable working people to build better lives and futures for all our families. But I am also a realist, and a fiscal steward for the county. I know that today’s $300 million deficit is not a one-time, single year problem. The economy does not show signs of improving soon, and when it does, it will still take considerable time before Montgomery County sees increased revenues across the board.

What’s more, if we institute excessive tax increases and slash urgent programs and services, we risk losing our top of the charts AAA bond rating. There’s only one county in the entire United States that has a longer streak of this gold standard. A downgrade will add to our deficit, deplete our reserves, and make it harder for the county to attract and keep business and investment.

Union members understand issues of economic justice and shared responsibility better than anyone. I believe that most workers would agree that in rough seas, everyone needs to pitch in to get to the other shore. And just as important, lawmakers must stand on working families’ side in support of those who are fighting for their fair share, looking for work or are least able to protect themselves in today’s economy.

We need to find a third way beyond slashing programs that could shred the social safety net and raising taxes on those who can least afford further strains on their family budget. A true collaboration to find a solution that is fair and equitable is what everyone, union and non-union alike, wants and needs.

Duchy Trachtenberg, a Democrat from North Bethesda, is an at-large member of the County Council.