A cost-cutting move to a four-day workweek has perturbed some of the unionized maintenance workers in the Boone County Public Works Department.

Starting Monday, for about a month, most county public works employees will switch from eight- to 10-hour days. The change means workers will have to get to work an hour earlier and stay an hour later than their current schedule.

The plan has some perks. The workweek lasts Monday through Thursday, giving employees three-day weekends, said Chip Estabrooks, county public works manager of maintenance operations.

But some workers think the new schedule will hamper their home lives, said Rex Taggart, a field representative for Laborers’ International Union of North America Local 773.

"A lot of them are 4-H leaders, and a lot of them are baseball coaches," Taggart said. "Their whole world is set up for an eight-hour workday."

He said most of the 40 unionized public works employees are against the idea. "They’ve all pretty much put it out there that they don’t want to change," Taggart said.

Taggart said workers also aren’t thrilled about being home Fridays when most people are at work. "They don’t care about being off that extra day when their families are not there."

Estabrooks said he realizes not everyone is tickled with the new schedule. "It’s something that we’ve discussed at length with the staff," he said. "There’s some skepticism amongst some of them, but there’s strong support, too."

County officials hope the move will cut back on expenses for fuel and equipment preparation, Estabrooks said. At the beginning of each day, workers typically spend as long as an hour loading equipment onto trucks at the public works headquarters south of Columbia on Highway 63 before heading to job sites. It takes the same amount of time to unload trucks when they return at the end of the day.

Estabrooks said the four-day workweek means workers will spend less time loading and more time maintaining county roads. "Therein lies a big cost savings," he said.

The time change won’t affect everyone in county public works. The Design and Construction Division, along with the mechanics and office staff, will remain on the regular work schedule. Maintenance crews will remain on call to respond to emergencies 24 hours a day.

Having workers labor longer hours at one site in the summer is an idea from the private sector, Estabrooks said. The tactic saved money for Richardson & Bass Construction Co., now part of APAC-Missouri, which Estabrooks used to head. "Four-day, 10-hour workweeks are pretty typical in the construction industry in the summer months, when days are longer," Estabrooks said.

Four-day, full-time workers are also not unheard of elsewhere in the public sector. The city of Columbia has a crew of auto mechanics who work 10-hour days Wednesdays through Saturdays year-round, said Dennie Pendergrass, the city’s public works chief of operations. There’s also a pending request to put Columbia Water and Light Department engineers on that schedule.

Likewise, three of six landscaping crews for the University of Missouri-Columbia switch to four-day weeks in the summer, said Phil Schocklee, associate director of campus facilities. "That allows us to have people on campus during the height of the mowing season," Schocklee said.

The county’s altered workweek is a test run scheduled to end July 8, Estabrooks said. At that time, public works officials and the Boone County Commission will decide whether to extend it into September. Southern District County Commissioner Karen Miller said workers’ comments will have a role in whether the plan is prolonged.

"You’ve got to respect the work force and their needs," Miller said.