Minnesota’s Cass County will be heading for mediation with the Health, Human and Veterans Services (HHVS) bargaining unit, which rejected the county’s latest contract offer.  The rejection was due to continuing disputes over work hours and the county’s ability to alter an employee’s job description and/or employment conditions.  The Health, Human and Veterans Services bargaining unit maintains that it should have the sole right to set its own work hours and conditions of employment. 

The terms set by the county are not new; in fact, they are the same terms offered to other entities running under the auspices of the Cass County government.  However, in the past, HHVS retained the right to pick flex time—a right that no other department has had.  For this reason, the county felt that there were gaps in staff coverage producing a need for consistency across all departments.  The 2.5 percent pay increase offered by the county is the also same pay increase offered to other bargaining units. 

The Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services will be handling the mediation process free of charge to the county and Attorney Tom Fitzpatrick will represent the county throughout the course of the proceedings.  The mission of the Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services is “to promote stable and constructive labor-management relations and the use of alternative dispute resolution and collaborative processes in areas other than labor-management.”