Parish President V.J. St. Pierre might turn to a relatively untapped market when it comes to filling vacant public works’ foremen positions this year – retired plant workers.
Though there are no foremen positions open at the moment, there will likely be job openings this year because of current parish employees going into retirement. St. Pierre said that he sees retired industry workers as a good fit for those positions because their experience in industry has given them the safety training and other experience that would be necessary for the job.
“Retired plant workers are a group I want to attract because their experience and training can prove to be a valuable asset for the parish,” St. Pierre said. “These workers will also be in a position where they want to supplement their retirement, and working as a foreman would be a perfect fit.”
So far, St. Pierre has only hired two retired industry workers – Sam Scholle and Russell Tastet. Scholle is the director of public works and wastewater, while Tastet is an assistant superintendent with public works.
Even with the downtrodden economy, the parish has not seen an increase in applications for civil service positions, which are believed to be among the most secure work environments. For that reason jobs in government are usually highly sought after.
In 2007, the former parish council approved a 10 percent raise and added a 3 percent cost of living increase to raise pay for all civil service employees. Appointed employees didn’t receive this pay increase.
The raise cost $1.2 million and would increase by an additional $110,000 in each of the following years. The former council also approved a measure to allow the additional $1.9 million they received in property tax revenue to cover the cost of the raises for the civil service workers.
In November of 2008, the current council approved a new pay plan for civil service employees as recommended through a salary survey by the Archer Company. The survey updated the classifications and pay ranges for all civil service positions with cost of living and job duties taken into consideration.
During his election campaign, St. Pierre said that parish workers were underpaid and that industry is hiring away trained employees by paying higher salaries.
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