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COPYRIGHT 2005 Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News
By Dave Umhoefer, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Feb. 28--Millions of dollars apart on wages, pension rollbacks and health insurance in negotiations with their largest employee union, Milwaukee County officials are preparing to take a major gamble in winner-takes-all arbitration.
Talks between Milwaukee County and the union representing 64 percent of its employees have broken down and are headed to arbitration. These are highlights of each side's latest offer. Mediation starts March 21 and could change the final offers before submission to an arbitrator, who will pick one in the "winner-takes-all" process. The county's labor contracts expired at the end of 2004.
Citing the county's dire fiscal condition and hoping to undo bits of the costly 2000 pension deal, they are close to submitting a final offer that their own labor negotiator has given an 80 percent chance of losing.
While union officials contend that talk of a budget crisis is overblown, county leaders say the future of key social service programs, hundreds of county jobs and the...
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