After consulting with their Master Table bargaining team colleagues last week, the Bargaining Unit 15 team met with the State for the fifth time to work on pass backs and hear counter offers on proposals the team has brought to the State in previous sessions.
The team presented one new proposal and three rollover proposals. The new proposal is:
- 13.11.15 Joint Labor Management Committee on Upward Mobility and Career Development (Unit 15)
This proposal retains all the old language for this committee while adding several departments to make it more inclusive, bring more people to the table, and increase worker access to upward mobility. To do so, we are adding the following departments: the California Highway Patrol (CHP), the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), and the California Conservation Corps (CCC)
We also reached Tentative Agreement on three rollover proposals, including:
- 14.12.15 Custodian Equipment (Unit 15)
- 15.4.15 Employee Opportunity Transfer (Unit 15)
- 13.23.15 CDCR Training (Juvenile Programs) (Unit 15)
Local 1000 and the State have gone back and forth about proposing to eliminate the language in 13.23.15. The juvenile programs have as yet not been eliminated, and until those programs are officially removed, the Unit 15 Team is insistent that the language will remain.
“We need to have economic discussions at the unit table in order to know what to propose for Tentative Agreement at the master table,” said Eric Murray, Bargaining Unit 15 Chair. As Murray pointed out, bargaining ground rules allow the State to deliver counter proposals on economics at the unit tables. However, only tentative agreements on economics need to be elevated and reached at the Master table. So, while it is important for economic discussions to take place at the unit tables to narrow down the issues sent to the master table, rejections of economics may take place at the unit table.
If the State is claiming any economic proposal, even a rollover—the hard-earned rights we’ve won in previous campaigns—it is considered a “new cost.” When this occurs, the State needs to be costing the unit proposals and bringing Department of Finance to the unit table to discuss.
If the State is looking to make changes to any of our current differential language in relation to the Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act (PEPRA), the State needs to provide this counter as well.
The State has had eighteen months from the date when we were notified to conduct the research that demonstrates there is a legal necessity to change the status of any specific differential. Unless the State can prove changes are legally necessary, Local 1000 and the Unit 15 team has no intention of changing this language. “We are willing to meet as long as it takes to make movement with the Unit 15 proposals,” reiterated Murray. “It’s on the State to make the counter for us to be able to respond.”
“We need to get some of these financial proposals back from the State,” said Garth Underwood, BU 15 Vice Chair and a CDCR Correctional Supervising Cook at Ironwood State Prison. “We can’t move anything much further until we start to see their counter offers. Unit 15 workers are the lowest paid employees in Local 1000, so the most important thing for allied service workers like us is money. The members have spoken. We need to see a significant raise.”
Unit 15’s next meeting with the State to win a contract that Respects Us, Protects Us, and Pays Us is set for June 5 due to the Memorial Day holiday. On Tuesday, May 23, bargaining units 1, 3, 4, 14, and 17 will once again meet with the State. Master table negotiations resume on Wednesday, May 24.
There’s real truth to the Local 1000 slogan, Stronger Together. We only win a great contract with a strong Local 1000 membership. So, if you’re not already a member, we encourage you to join us today.
And be sure to save your spot for the upcoming June 8 March to the Governor’s mansion here.