There's a table in Poplar Bluff to which our police officers aren't invited.
There aren't seats for leaders of our fire department either, members of our park department or about 130 city employees in total.
These are the men and women who have no union representation.
They rely on our city leaders to weigh the value of their work, when it comes to raises, benefits and other compensation.
The worth of their time lives and dies in the budget passed each December by the city council.
That budget also looks at wage increases for the members of four unions in the city. These serve Municipal Utilities, the street, motor pool and cemetery departments, and about 60 percent of the fire department.
City council members voted Monday to give about 80 people at the utility raises of 4 percent each year through 2020.
Other unions are still at the table.
But at least they have a seat.
Nothing will be given this year to Poplar Bluff's 45 sworn police officers, 11 fire department leaders and other nonunion workers. Raises of 2 percent were given in 2016 and 4 percent in 2012.
Yet, some council members still insist Poplar Bluff should stay its course. It feels a little like the cartoon shared on social media featuring a dog sitting in the middle of a flame-filled room saying, "This is fine."
While we wait for a windfall, where are serious conversations about how to serve what council members often say is Poplar Bluff's most valuable resource, its employees?
If these same leaders aren't careful, some departments may decide to force a place at the table by unionizing. The police department has talked about this before and is the largest nonunion department.
The morale of other departments could suffer. This happened at the fire department three years ago, when its top people worried there was no incentive for others to strive toward a leadership role that appears to offer little financial reward.
The price of these decisions could be a lot more than a cost of living increase.
Municipal Utilities general manager Bill Bach told the council Monday his department had four workers leave for places with better wages since union negotiations began.
The police and fire departments face the same challenge, as well as other departments seeking skilled labor.
It makes us ask, how much value do we place on a good police officer? What is the worth of strong leadership at our fire department, in dollars and cents?
Daily American
Republic