St. Patrick’s Day parade strike averted: Allegheny County and 911 dispatchers reach tentative deal

Allegheny County and the SEIU, which represents 1,000 county workers including emergency dispatchers, announced a tentative agreement Wednesday.

The contract between the county and the Service Employees International Union expired at the end of last year.

Specific details on wage increases and terms of the contract will be released in the future, said Steve Catanese, president of SEIU Local 668.

“We have a wage package that will be helpful to the workers,” he said.

The union represents 250 emergency dispatchers in Allegheny County as well as other county employees in Administrative Services, Elections Division, Court Records, Allegheny County Jail, Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office and other offices.

Among other contract issues, the tentative contract helps the lower-wage workers, which includes some county employees earning $15 an hour.

The union has to go to its members to ratify the pact, Catanese said, which could take about two weeks. If they pass the tentative pact, it will become the final contract.

One of the major issues for 911 dispatchers is the long hours they work, Catanese said. Earlier, union officials said low staffing levels caused dispatchers to routinely work extra hours, amounting to more than 4,200 overtime shifts last year.

The county needs more dispatchers to alleviate those long shifts, Catanese said.

“We worked out a process to make it easier for the county to bring in more dispatchers,” he said.

The county’s website on Wednesday had job listings for emergency dispatchers.

Although county and union officials met more than a dozen times to work out a new pact, that didn’t stop hundreds of workers from protesting in front of the Allegheny County Courtouse in late February over what they described as difficult work conditions, including long shifts and low pay.

Parade day walkout averted

Then last week, 911 dispatchers authorized a one-day strike for Saturday, March 12, — the day of Pittsburgh’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade.

The threat of a strike during the St. Patrick’s Day parade “reminded everyone how important 911 dispatchers are to the health and safety of county residents,” Catanese said.

Both sides negotiated the new contract over the past two days to reach a tentative deal, Catanese said.

“We are appreciative of the time and dedication from the county and county Executive Rich Fitzgerald,” he said.

Fitzgerald thanked the labor and management teams for the long days they put in to reach the tentative agreement.

“We are glad that we were able to find a middle ground and that our employees and residents benefit and a strike is averted,” he said.