Lane County says it remains firm in its latest contract offer to workers represented by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. The union has been on strike since Wednesday.
Friday afternoon, after a day of mediation, Commissioner Sid Leiken said the county is resolute in its offer of an $8.8 million increase in compensation which it says will go into effect Saturday. Leiken points out the offer is consistent with what the county’s 5 other bargaining units accepted.
Leiken: “As you know, the commissioners, we represent the taxpayers of Lane County. And so that’s going to be very important moving forward and that’s really our responsibility. But I think the one issue that I really take away from this is that we were going to be consistent across the board and that’s why we felt our offer was a good offer.”
Leiken says as of Friday evening the county had not heard a response from the union.
In a message on its Facebook page, earlier in the day, AFSCME negotiators told union members they promise to do their best and are committed to staying at the table.