Search: 07/2015

According to a report released this week by the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), the pension-gutting ballot measure proposed by former San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and former San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio is so drastic and recklessly conceived that it could lead to radical and unforeseen negative consequences.

When Job Steward Lonnie “Tony” Owens attended a Joint Labor Management Committee (JLMC) meeting last year, he came prepared to present management with the concerns of his CalPERS coworkers in the Information Technology Services Branch (ITSB).

What he provided was perspective regarding the staff’s frustration with the department’s lack of communication concerning their critical skills and training. That vacuum of communication too often leads to work being outsourced that could have been done by existing state staff.

Every year, by November 15, the Office of Correctional Education (OCE) proposes calendars for the following academic year.  Last year, OCE agreed to work collaboratively with BU 3 rank and file members to develop the 2015/2016 calendars based on the interests of education management, custody, and teachers.

Local 1000’s Program Technician Committee met with CalHR on June 18.  The Joint Labor Management Committee has agreed to have 10 Program Technician subject matter experts from five departments that heavily utilize PTs (DOJ, EDD, DDS, Covered California, and State Fund ) participate in discussions that will start July 14. 

Social Security alone won’t be enough to stop the slide into poverty. Experts say that program will provide only about 40 percent of what the average retiree needs. For a secure retirement, financial planners talk about a “three-legged stool” consisting of Social Security, personal savings and a workplace retirement plan, like a pension or a 401(k). But for too many Californians with no savings and no defined benefit plan, two legs are missing and the stool is set to crash under the pressure.

And Local 1000 is taking a lead role in creating new and innovative private-sector models for workers who don’t have pensions. In 2012, Local 1000 was a strong supporter of the legislation that created the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Plan which, if implemented, would provide a voluntary, automatic-enrollment, retirement plan for millions of Californians without one. Local 1000 President Yvonne R. Walker serves on the Secure Choice Board, and the union is committed to moving this important program forward.

When Democratic former San Jose mayor Chuck Reed and Republican ex-San Diego councilmember Carl DeMaio finally unveiled the language for a promised attempt at getting a statewide public pension cutting measure to 2016 voters, the expectation was that Reed II would be a reined-in and more realistically-framed version of Reed I – last year’s failed attempt at undermining the public pension system.

Stewards are at the core of Local 1000’s power, the crucial connection between the members in the workplace and the union. So when one of our representatives is treated unfairly for doing the work of the union, they’ve picked a fight we’ll take to the mat.

Local 1000 stopped the State Compensation Insurance Fund (State Fund) from implementing a serious violation of our contract by introducing performance standards in the workplace without notifying and bargaining with the union. As a result of our pressure, State Fund has agreed to suspend the controversial program and meet with Local 1000.