Bargaining Representatives Gather, Gain Knowledge, and Grow Their Leadership at 2021 Spring SBAC

Nearly 150 members of our union’s Statewide Bargaining Advisory Committee (SBAC) convened on February 27 in a day-long virtual meeting to discuss matters related to our contract and the hard-earned rights that agreement grants us.

The SBAC is a group of elected member leaders who serve as liaisons between the workplace and our bargaining team. They’re called District Bargaining Unit Representatives (DBURs) and they provide unit-specific knowledge as well as general contract knowledge. They play an important role during bargaining as well as the time between negotiations.

They’re joined in their efforts by CBURs, Classification Bargaining Unit Representatives, whose focus is on certain job classifications in Unit 1, our largest bargaining unit. The work of our bargaining representatives includes contract enforcement as well as negotiations.

In delivering her keynote speech, President Walker shared a message that focused on leadership in the year ahead and our opportunity to apply lessons learned in 2020 to reimagine the labor movement, become better leaders, build a more powerful union, and continue the fight for social, economic, and environmental justice.

SBAC members received a detailed view of the condition of California’s budget, which is significantly better than projections from a year ago. We also reviewed COVID’s impact on the economy in our state and across the nation, and discussed some significant proposals found in the Governor’s draft budget, including the possibility of an end to the PLP as early as July 1 of this year.

To culminate the general session, we continued Local 1000’s month-long celebration of Black History Month and kicked off Women’s History Month with highlights of the contributions made by African American women to our culture and society.

Following the general session, each bargaining unit met separately to discuss unit-specific issues, ensuring our hard-earned rights are protected while looking ahead to our next contract.