County employees boo at council hearing

Proposal to cut pay increase on table

Andrews (D-Dist. 1) of Gaithersburg has opposed the salary increases as unaffordable during the county's budget shortfall.

The meeting grew heated at times with catcalls from workers interrupting Councilwoman Duchy Trachtenberg (D-At large) of North Bethesda, chairwoman of the committee.

The room burst into cheers for Councilwoman Valerie Ervin (D-Dist. 4) of Silver Spring, who criticized the other two members of the committee for saying $40 million should be cut from the employee budget.

‘‘When I listen to my colleagues on this dias say you need to feel pain I challenge them on that premise,” Ervin said. ‘‘We don't need to balance this budget on the backs of the working people.”

Gino Renne, president of UFCW Local 1994, said the council staff should not make recommendations that interfere with the collective bargaining process.

With 8,500 county government workers, Local 1994 is the largest government employee union in the county.

‘‘Your role is clear to either vote up or vote down the labor negotiations that come up before you,” Renne said. ‘‘We're ready to prove that point in a court of law.”

‘‘I hope Mr. Renne doesn't waste his union's money on lawyers for that one,” said Mike Fadden, council staff attorney.

‘‘I'll decided what we spend our union's money on,” Renne fired back.