Our Struggle with Fair Compensation in Placer County
By Chris Christman and Mary George
Placer County has money. Make no mistake about it. In unsettling economic times for both the state of California and the country as a whole, Placer County has never been so well off. The county's growth is due in large part to a significant migration of people from the Bay Area and Southern California. It seems that as baby-boomers grey, they decide to live out their golden years in Placer County. Young families too have come in full force because housing is more affordable than the Bay Area and the quality of life is exceptional. For the past two years Placer County has been the fastest growing county in California.
Just how much money are we talking? Well, the proposed budget for FY 2002-2003 is $423 million. Revenues are up 13% and spending is up 23.5% from FY 2001-2002. Despite this windfall and despite an increase in overall circulation, the county provided no additional revenue for the library. The library budget is $3.2 million (less than 1% of the total county budget). In fact, according to statistics from the California State Library, Placer County libraries are significantly understaffed. Library employees are expected to serve 32% more people than the state average.
Placer County's pay equity struggle can be traced back to County Librarian and salary advocate Jane Cotton who, in 1951, asked the Board of Supervisors to increase her salary from $3,600 a year to $4,800. The Board of Supervisors, at the time, took her request "under advisement." No increase is documented for Ms. Cotton.
Fast forward fifty years to November 2000 when Director of Library Services and salary advocate Elaine Reed negotiated with county executive and personnel officials and asked for a modest 10% increase for librarians and library assistants. Elaine's request followed nine years of a pay equity struggle she began when she became director. Elaine was assured that library salaries would be addressed during contract negotiations with the Placer Public Employees Union and the county. Many salaries were being restructured for several classifications similar to librarians through bargaining. Unfortunately this verbal assurance was never documented.
Based on market studies conducted by the union and the county, only a 2.5% increase to library salaries was warranted, to be effective in year two of the contract. Personnel officials were skeptical of even that increase. Other county classifications being studied were increased by as much as 25%.
Discouraged by our "increase" we checked into state and county laws and foundthe following:
- In 1982, the State of California established the concept of equal pay for comparable worth. Employees are compensated on the basis of skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions in relation to any class or salary range in state service. (Government Code 19827.2)
- In 1983, the California Legislature extended the concept of equal pay for comparable worth to local agencies (Government Code 53248).
- Placer County has a policy to eliminate discrimination from all terms and conditions of employment. Gender discrimination and compensation are specifically addressed in this policy (Placer County Workplace Discrimination & Harassment Policy).
- Recently, the State of California reaffirmed its policy of using comparable worth when setting salaries. In 2002, the Commission on the Status of Women was charged with conducting a pay equity study of the state civil service system in order to determine where compensation and classification inequities exist (Government Code 8247 & 8248).
After finding the laws, we were determined to change things and we set about defining the problems. What we found was this:
- Library assistants are currently compensated at a rate comparable to clerical staff, while librarians are paid a paraprofessional wage.
- Only 14 professional library staff members are affected: 7 library assistants and 7 librarians. Twelve of these 14 employees are women.
- Library salaries are not determined by the budget of the department. Salaries are set by a classification scheme adopted by the county and purportedly based on market surveys.
- For library staff, market surveys perpetuate salary inequities. There are very few librarians and low pay is a wide-spread problem. The government has a monopoly on the public library market and wages are artificially depressed through lack of competition.
- Placer County uses 8 benchmark counties for their market survey. Most of those benchmark counties use the same benchmarked counties, keeping everyone depressed.
Next we compared classifications within the county. County job classifications are public records, so it was easy to find and compare librarians and library assistants to other similar jobs. The state of California and many counties make their compensation and classification schedules available on the Internet. This is what we found:
- Library assistants require a bachelor's degree and one year of experience. The next lowest paid job in the county requiring a bachelor's degree is environmental health trainee, which makes 22.5% more than a library assistant. The next lowest paid job in the county requiring a bachelor's degree and one year of experience is assistant planner, which makes 35% more than a library assistant.
- Librarians require a master's degree and enter at the same pay rate as an environmental health trainee (the lowest paid job in the County requiring a bachelor's degree besides library assistant). A senior librarian with a master's degree and five years of professional experience makes 12.5% less than an entry level management and personnel analyst.
- In the State of California, where pay equity has been the law for twenty years, entry-level librarians make 5% more than an auditor II or an analyst I. If librarians in Placer County were compensated 5% more than an auditor II or an analyst I this would necessitate a raise of 25% or 37.5%.
It has been two years since we began our pay equity campaign. We have made major progress educating all involved parties. We have presented our case to our co-workers, library management, the library's advisory board, our union, the county's personnel director, the civil service commission, the grand jury, and to the CEO of Placer County. Every step of the way we experienced small victories. The Library Advisory Board passed a resolution supporting pay equity for library workers, the grand jury has asked Placer County to look into our salary concerns, and our union representatives are on our side negotiating with the county as we write this. Along the way we have also learned to trust our instincts. County personnel officials asked us to back off the gender discrimination issue and that's when we knew we were onto something and pushed it even further. Our persistence has paid off. We have talked to so many people that the county can no longer ignore the issue.