Probation officers in Washington County voted Wednesday to authorize a strike over whether Juneteenth should be considered a paid holiday for them.

The officers voted 39-1 to authorize a strike over the issue, said Joshua Loahr, Teamsters Local 320 Recording-Secretary and chief negotiator.

According to Loahr, county officials have failed to recognize Juneteenth as a paid holiday in contract mediation. County officials have instead asked probation officers “to trade Christmas Eve in exchange for getting Juneteenth off,” he said.

“It’s shameful,” said Loahr, who lives in Woodbury. “I’m a resident of Washington County and a Washington County taxpayer, and I’m ashamed of what the county is doing. We do not believe that Juneteenth is something that should be traded for. It should be an addition … because of the significance of what Juneteenth represents.”

Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, became a federal holiday in 2021. Last year, Minnesota became the 26th state to recognize the holiday, but it is not a paid holiday for all government workers.

Union officials hope that a strike can be averted, Loahr said, but they are prepared to file an intent to strike.

“We believe that the county has created this situation, and we would hope that the county would want to get back to the bargaining table before we file our intent to strike,” he said.

If there is no movement, probation officers plan next week to file an intent to strike with the state Bureau of Mediation Services, he said. That action would trigger an automatic 10-day cooling-off period, which is required under state law.

“We remain hopeful that the employer will honor Juneteenth rather than careen down the current path pushing us closer to the first labor strike against Washington County in its history,” Loahr said. “Most employers that we deal with are recognizing Juneteenth. They are not forcing employees to trade for it like Washington County is attempting to do.”

Washington County officials value the important work that probation officers do, but are disappointed the union voted to reject “a very competitive wage and benefit proposal for 2024 and 2025,” said Angie Nalezny, the county’s director of human resources

The county’s offer included wage increases competitive within the market and an increase in the county contribution to employee health insurance, Nalezny said.

“The county continues to offer Teamsters Local 320 the same package of paid holidays that was accepted by more than 80 percent of county employees in 2022, including the county’s three largest bargaining units. This package added Juneteenth as a new county paid holiday,” Nalezny said.

The county package of paid holidays also includes adding a new floating holiday, which allows employees to take time off on a day that is important to them, she said.

Washington County “has decided to keep county offices open on Christmas Eve, like the State of Minnesota, the courts, and many private sectors service organizations, to better serve our customers and residents,” he said. “The county continues to include Christmas Day as a paid holiday.”

Washington County declared Juneteenth an official county holiday in 2021, prior to the state law that made it a state holiday, according to Nalezny.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced that a quarter-million slaves in the state were free. President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation more than two years earlier, but Texas was among the last Confederate territories to be brought under control by federal forces.

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