Sonoma County Workers United

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For Immediate Release: Dec. 7, 2010

--Pension funding issues are short term and will evaporate as the economy improves

(Santa Rosa, CA)---The Service Employees International Union Local 1021 (SEIU 1021) issued the following statement from Robert Moffett, Sonoma County Chapter President, in response to the presentation by Sonoma County Administration regarding the pension challenges by the County:

“Today, Sonoma County Administration will presented their outlook on county employees’ retirement plan.  As we evaluate our pensions during this trying time, we look forward to partnering with the County Administration to explore ways to lower costs in a thoughtful and collaborative approach. “

“Countywide there is growing misconception fed by sensational anecdotes -- of top managers retiring with pensions adding up to over $100,000. The abuses are cited as contributing to the "unsustainable" pension system. “

“The facts are:
 

- 7 in 10 public employees get less than $40,000 a year in retirement
- .75 cents of every $1 paid out to retirees is made from investments – not taxpayer money
- Public pension plans have been viable for 70 years; recent losses will be recovered as the economy improves.”

“What some are opportunistically calling a “pension crisis” is truly an “economic crisis”. Like all forms of investment, all public pension funds took a huge hit in the market crash. The vast majority of Sonoma County retirees earn a modest retirement benefit. Most of the increased costs are attributable to the market collapse, not to excessive benefits.”

“Our pension system is fundamentally sound. Public pension funds have a long history of stability, despite market ups and downs. Pension funds are highly efficient investment vehicles and have significant competitive advantages. Pensions funds have already regained some of their losses.”

“We feel that budget deficits and pension short-term funding issues cannot be fixed by legislatively altering our retirement security but by coming to the bargaining table.”

By an overwhelming majority, the tentative agreement has been approved by the members of SEIU 1021:
Yes: 93%
No: 7%

On Friday, June 18 the Bargaining Team of SEIU 1021 reached Tentative Agreement with Sonoma County on a new two-year contract.  Faced with multi-million dollar budget deficit, we were committed to our framework that would reduce the impact to our families and to reduce the impact to the services we provide.
Although there aren’t any winners in this economic crisis, we fought off further cuts to jobs and services and fought off a 10% across-the-board pay cut. 

We, the members of the bargaining team of SEIU Local 1021, UNANIMOUSLY recommend approval of this Tentative Agreement. Vote Yes!

Key elements of the Tentative Agreement are:
• 2 Year agreement through August 30, 2012
• MTO Year 1 = 64 Hours – 1 week at Christmas + 3 days
• MTO Year 2 = 40 Hours – 1 week at Christmas
• VTO Program continues
• Health Care contributions from the County remain unchanged at $500/mo
• Allowance of $3.45/hr ($600/mo) remains unchanged
• Vacation buy-back is frozen for 2 more years
• Staff Development Funds (T&T) frozen thru June 30, 2011
o    Available to employees July 1, 2011
• Re-establishment of County Wide Joint Labor Management Committee
o    First issue will be the use of Extra Help

	"We were able to minimize concessions and reach an agreement without a long protracted fight with the County. " --Earl Gwynne, Special Assessment Supervisor
	"We decreased the County’s MTO proposal of 160 hours to 104 hours over two years.  This contract will give the County the time to restructure for efficiency and effectiveness, I hope that the county will transform to a culture of candor and accountability instead of political gamesmanship as usual.  Other wise, we’ll be in the same place in 2012." --F. Gayle Shirley, Employment and Training Counselor
	"We were able to bring to our members a proposed contract that does not include an across the board salary deduction. We also held the line on a minimum amount of MTO, which benefitted other labor groups as well." --Chris Mocny, Engineering Technician IV
	"As a result of our bargaining efforts, we saved $4.4 million.  In real terms, this means that layoffs were significantly reduced and essential County programs were saved." --Kerry Bargsten, Social Worker IV
	"The effect of the 64 hrs in Mandatory Time Off to a person earning $25/hr is approximately $15 a month." --Andre Bercut, DCSS, CSO II
	"This 2-yr contract will help limit employee concessions and job cuts.  This agreement will give the County a chance to look at its infrastructure problems." --Linda Farnsworth-Brown, OA II

SEIU 1021 GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING & VOTE ON TENTATIVE AGREEMENT
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30TH, 5:30pm – 8:00pm
ST. ROSE CHURCH MEETING HALL, 322 10TH STREET, SANTA ROSA
(BETWEEN B STREET & MORGAN)

Other voting times:

Wed 6/30
St. Rose Church, 322 10th Street, Santa Rosa
Time: 5:30pm-8:00pm

Thur 7/1
County Admin Center, 585 Fiscal Drive (Breezeway)
Time: 11:00am-3:00pm

Los Guillicos JJC
Time:11:00am-3:00pm

Airport In front of FY&C
Time: 11:00am-3:00pm

Water Agency                         
College Avenue, Time: 6:30 – 7:30am
Airport Location, Time: 10am – 1pm

Cotati Road Yard
Time: 6:30 – 7:30am

SEIU Local 1021 Union Office, 600 B Street, Santa Rosa
Time: 9:00am-4:00pm

Tues 7/6
County Admin Center, 585 Fiscal Drive (Breezeway)
Time: 11:00am-3:00pm

Airport In front of FY&C
Time: 11:00am-3:00pm

The Lakes
Time: 11:00am-3:00pm

Downtown Santa Rosa, 625 5th Street (Corner of Humboldt)
Time: 11:00am-3:00pm

Mendocino Human Services,  520 Mendocino Ave               
Time: 11:00 am- 1:00pm

Health Services Rotunda Bldg, 3313 Chanate Road
Time: 11:00am-3:00pm

Healdsburg Road Yard   
Time: 6:30 – 7:30 am

SEIU Local 1021 Union Office, 600 B Street, Santa Rosa
Time: 9:00am-4:00pm

Voting ends at 5pm on Tues, July 6th at which time the ballots will be counted.
All Members are welcome to observe and help with the count.

Remote site locations: Call SEIU 1021 (707)293-2859 for locations nearest you or to find out when our traveling ballot box will be in your area.

Term
2 year agreement through August 31, 2012.

Salary
· No increase or decrease during term of contract.
· No later than March 1, 2012 the County and the Union will meet to set criteria for selection of appropriate agencies to be used in conducting a salary survey.
· Provision that if any other bargaining unit gets an increase over the term of the contract, same increase will be paid to SEIU.

Mandatory Time Off
· Fiscal year 2010 – 2011 64 hours
  Fiscal year 2011 – 2012 40 hours
· If majority of bargaining units agree to less time, the less time will apply to SEIU.

Vacation and Compensatory Time Cash Out
Suspend cash out for fiscal year 2010 and 2011 except for employees who retire or leave employment.

Staff Development Funds
Suspend use of staff development funds for fiscal year 2010 – 2011 except for licenses and certifications required by classification description.

Voluntary Time Off Program
Continue for life of contract.

Medical Benefits for Retirees
If legally permissible, will change contract language to provide that employees who are laid off and restored within time period in Civil Service Rules will have time before and after lay off count toward accumulation of 10 years service time for eligibility for retiree medical.

Classification Issues
· Animal Control Officers will not be required to train new Officers in use of weapons.
· Special Assessment Supervisor – County will conduct classification review between this classification and Accountant 1.
· County will conduct safety audit with 90 days of ratification for Property and Evidence section of Sheriff’s office and address any safety issues which are identified.

Release Time for Union Businesses
· Increase yearly hours from 500 to 600; limit carryover hours to 100 per year.
· Change notice time for use of release time from 10 days to 4 days.

Retirement Committee
The County and the Union will establish a committee to address retirement program costs for future employees.

Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District Employees
These employees are covered by all terms and conditions of the MOU except discipline and lay off and the parties will meet and confer to determine the conditions related to discipline and lay off.

Work Load Requirements
The County wide or Department level JLMC will meet and discuss the issue of caseload requirements and the impact on clients and employees in the areas of Human Services, Health Services, Child Protective Services and Community Development Commission.

Countywide JLMC
The County and the Union will reestablish the County wide JLMC to deal with issues which have county-wide impact. The initial issue which will be addressed is the use of extra help.

The 2010 – 2011 County budget was presented to all bargaining units at a meeting last Friday.This document will the first presented at the Board of Supervisors meeting this week. The County has proposed the elimination of approximately 270 positions. Approximately 100 of these positions are currently filled, about half of which are in the SEIU bargaining unit.

These position reductions along with other budget reductions result in a balanced budget document. The budget will now be debated at the Board of Supervisor level and they will have the final decision on how to approach the County’s serious financial shortfalls.

At this point the County has continued to ask for concessions from all bargaining units so that they do not have to make all the reductions  which have been proposed. Additionally, the County has voiced concern about what may happen in the next 6 months related to possible reductions from the State. At our bargaining meeting on June 2, the County briefly reviewed the Union proposals, asking some questions and responding to some of the issues. They told us they have no additional money and are unable to address the proposals we have made which have cost impact (i.e. increase in the cash amount for medical, increase in vacation, etc).

The County again requested that we deal separately with the issue of vacation/comp time buyback. As we have previously told you, our current agreement to suspend any vacation buyback expires on July 1. After that date the contract language allowing buyback up to 80 hours will apply. The County wants to deal with this issue separately because the deadline is quickly approaching and there is no money in the current budget to pay the potential amount of cash out (County estimate is 8.3 million for all employees). If the cash out does occur the budget deficit will increase.

The Union bargaining team again told the County that we are unwilling to bargain issues individually. While we understand the problem we are committed to resolving the contract as a whole not in individual parts.

We suggested that the County get serious about trying to resolve the contract in the next several weeks if they want to address the issue of buyback. We told the County they need to review their proposals and be more realistic about their expectations. Employees cannot afford a 15% reduction and still continue to pay their mortgages/housing costs and support their families. Our next session is scheduled for June 12 and we hope to make some progress at that session.

We thank all of you who attended the membership meeting on May 27 and who attend the weekly Unity breaks. In these difficult financial times it is important that we all stay united and keep communication lines open. The bargaining team represents all of you. They are only strong and effective when they speak for all the Union members. We are faced with a number of difficult decisions and we need to make them together. WE ALL ARE THE UNION. Contact a team member if you have questions or concerns.

On Wednesday, May 19, the County and the Union presented proposals on the issues we both wanted to deal with in these negotiations.  Prior to developing our proposals the Union reviewed the members’ surveys and discussed a number of issues which had occurred during and after the last negotiations.  We also reviewed the financial information which the County had presented us and the team discussed how we should proceed in light of the current financial deficit.  The team took into account all of these issues in the development of our proposals.  We decided to propose no salary change proposal in terms of cost of living or external equity proposals.  We did present some financial proposals in the form of an increase in the cash allowance (which helps pay the cost of medical premiums) and some increase for long term employees in vacation accumulation.  Additionally we addressed a number of other contract language issues which we felt we could address during these negotiations.  We will prepare a summary of our proposals for the membership meeting on Thursday.
 
The County presented a number of proposals which we had previously seen.  The proposals included 96 hours of unpaid furlough time (equal to approximately 5% decrease in salary), continuation of suspension of the educational allowance and the suspension of payout of vacation and comp time accumulation and extension of the voluntary furlough.  In addition, the County proposed an additional 10% across the board decrease in salary.  The County team provided a set of calculations which indicated that the 10% reduction proposal was the SEIU portion of what was necessary to balance the general fund budget.  How the reductions impact the non-general fund positions and budgets is yet to be presented.  We also asked how this 10% reduction was related to the proposed layoffs and the County team was unable to answer that question.  We expect to get that information at our meeting this Wednesday, May 26th.
 
We are clearly faced with a number of serious issues.  We have scheduled a general membership meeting for this Thursday so that we can talk to all of you, answer your questions and get your input.  It is important that you try to attend the meeting so that the team can get your direction and know how to proceed in the coming weeks.   We need to decide our approach and support each other.  The County needs to hear us speak as a united group and, in order to do that, the team needs to know how you want us to proceed.  Please attend the meeting or call the team with your thoughts.
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Contract Action TEAM MEETING NOTES 5-20-10
The main focus of the meeting was getting members to come to the General Membership meeting next week.  Our negotiating team wants the members input on what is going on at the bargaining table.  Here are some of the highlights that the County is proposing:
 
    •    A mandatory time off of 96 hours
    •    Suspension of staff development benefit and wellness benefit
    •    Suspend cash out of vacation and comp time (this does not apply to people that are retiring)
    •    Extra Help Buy Back Time
    •    Supervisory Compaction

AND, this just in from the most current proposal by the County…A 10% REDUCTION IN PAY!!!
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General Membership Meeting

Thurs, May 27th at 5:30pm

Steele Lane Center – 415 Steele Lane

Bring co-workers and come to your General Membership!

AGENDA

Negotiations Update

MTO & Furlough Proposals

Layoff Updates

Political Action

A MUST ATTEND MEETING…BECAUSE YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR FUTURE!
 

Our first bargaining session with the County was held on the afternoon of Wednesday, April 28.  The County was represented by a team of management representatives from various departments along with Chief Spokesperson Dan Fulks.  Dan told us that he would be attending the first few sessions and would then be transferring the lead responsibility to Fran Buchanan, a consultant from a firm called IEDA who will be handling the bargaining.  

Our first session was spent with a number of introductory items such as ground rules, schedules, introduction of team members and information requests.  While we have scheduled May 19 for our final date to present proposals, the County did provide us with a number of items they wish to talk about in the next several months.  Based on the status of the County budget the items they have presented represent ideas they have to save money and try to prevent further service cutbacks. 

Among the proposals they presented were Voluntary Furlough Time, continuation of the freeze on Staff Development and Physical Fitness Allowance, continuation of the freeze on Cash Out of Vacation and Compensatory Time and last, but certainly not least, Mandatory Furlough Time.  The County has proposed to increase this mandatory time to 96 hours per year.  Clearly this is a very serious issue which will require much discussion with all of you.  At this time we have provided no response to the County on these issues and we will need to receive much of the information we requested from the County before we are prepared to even consider what our response may be and other options we might explore.

Our next bargaining session is scheduled for Thursday, May 6 in the morning.  We hope to establish a schedule to meet regularly on Wednesdays after this week.   Since the issues are so significant and the budget looms ahead we may need to meet more than once a week to try to resolve the contract. 

It is very important that all of you keep in touch on what is happening in bargaining.  We will need your ideas, your input and most importantly, your direction on how you want these negotiations to proceed.  Your unity and support will be absolutely critical in making sure we are successful in managing these difficult times.

Unity breaks will be starting at various locations on May 4^th in an effort to keep you up to date.  Be sure to attend and encourage your co-workers to participate.  We will try to send out e-mails on a weekly basis to let you know what is happening.  Contact the Union office with your home e-mail if you want to be included: Katie.just@seiu1021.org.

 Signed,  Your SEIU Bargaining Team

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UPCOMING EVENTS

• Unity Breaks at 10:21am-- Tuesdays!

• Negotiations take place on Wednesdays so show your support for the team every Tuesday!
• CAT Meetings, Thursdays at 5:30pm SEIU Office, 600 B Street, SR--Dinner Served
• Wear Purple on Wednesdays!
• Phone Banking: Mon, Tues, Wed 6-8pm Santa Rosa Office. Bring a Co-Worker! RSVP Required Please! marialaborcenter@yahoo.com

For more info, contact Myrna Spiegler at (707) 293-2871--Myrna.speigler@seiu1021.org

New Contract Approved with 90%

Sonoma County workers in SEIU 1021 yesterday approved a one-year contract that essentially preserves the status quo while serving as a bridge to a global resolution of health care issues next year. The contract was approved with 90 percent of the vote.

One-year Term -- The contract expires August 31, 2010.

No COLA -- County employees expressed their desire to prevent additional layoffs by accepting no cost-of-living increase in their base wage for the term of the contract. However, the contract includes a “down payment” on equity adjustments for 23 classifications.

Health Care -- The $600 dollar cash payment (that workers receive now) remains in place. However, to reduce the burden on families who remain enrolled in PacifiCare or the County health plan, the County will make an extra contribution to those families through the end of the current Plan Year. The Joint Labor Management Benefits Committee is already researching more affordable plans for the next open enrollment.

Retiree Medical -- While maintaining the status quo, workers and the County agree to “pursue other options regarding retiree health, either solely or in conjunction with other Sonoma County employees and retirees.”

Last week, County workers approved with 87% an agreement on mandatory time-off that prevents layoffs and furloughs while preserving county services throughout the year. County offices will close for the week between Christmas and New Year. Workers will still receive a paycheck for that week, but the time will be offset through a two percent (2%) paycheck deduction for each pay period throughout the year.

In their unanimous recommendation, the SEIU 1021 bargaining team said the contract “protects our essential benefits as well as the essential services we provide to our community. The state budget crisis has put the squeeze on Sonoma and every other county in California. In this light, preserving the status quo counts as a victory compared to the devastating losses suffered by workers in other areas. It’s a sad truth, but a reason for us to be satisfied nonetheless. We look forward to this agreement serving as a bridge into a new era and a return to good relations between the county and its workers.”