Highlights From Master Table Bargaining
Wins from the master table: pay raises, hundreds of special salary adjustments, improved health and retirement costs

Early Saturday morning, the SEIU Local 1000 bargaining team reached an overall Tentative Agreement with the State. If ratified, the contract would significantly raise the wage floor for tens of thousands of state workers. It represents the largest three-year contract in Local 1000 history.

“This agreement reflects our best efforts to respond to the priorities our members identified in town halls and bargaining surveys,” said Irene Green, Local 1000 Vice President for Bargaining. “In many ways, we’ve been able to achieve the respect, the protection, and the pay that we’ve been fighting for.”

Over the past four months, our team bargained at the master table on issues that impact all our represented employees. Our nine bargaining units also negotiated with the State at separate tables, focused on unit-specific issues.

This email summary shares highlights from the master table; we’ll also be emailing unit-specific recaps. During the ratification process, you’ll be able to read and learn more detail about the Tentative Agreement. Besides email, we’ll be posting information about our Tentative Agreement on our Contract Action Center page.

Here are some key contract provisions we achieved for our members:

Our new agreement impacts our represented employees in a number of ways: We negotiated a retroactive pay raise for all employees, won retroactive special salary adjustments for more than 300 job classifications, maintained the healthcare stipend with no expiration date, reduced the pre-retirement (OPEB) funding, secured a health facility retention payment, and added, changed, or preserved a number of skill-based differentials, allowances, and other reimbursements that factor into our state income. Our general salary increase, our wage equity increase, and our unit-based Special Salary Adjustments are retroactive to July 1, 2023.

Our general salary increase is 10%.
All represented employees would receive a 3% pay raise, retroactive to July 1, 2023, on top of any other special salary adjustments (SSAs).  An additional 3% increase will occur on July 1, 2024. And on July 1, 2025, all Local 1000 employees will receive a 4% increase as long as the Department of Finance determines they can fund the entire amount. Otherwise, it may be adjusted downward by 1%.

A 4% wage equity adjustment provides fair wages for low-wage workers.
More than 150 of our lowest-paid classifications will receive an immediate 4% salary adjustment on top of the general salary increase. The increase is retroactive to July 1, 2023, and is pensionable. Any classification with a starting wage of $20/hour or less is eligible. This new agreement ensures those working in those jobs stay ahead of the prevailing minimum wage. You may view a list of the eligible classifications for the Wage Equity Adjustment here. To read the entire list of the affected classifications, click here.

Special Salary Adjustments of 5% or more for 170 additional classifications.
These increases are on top of the general salary increases and affect each step of the salary range, not just the top step. SSAs are retroactive to July 1, 2023, and are pensionable. To view the unit-specific lists of eligible classifications for the Special Salary Adjustments, click here.

We won a 0.5% reduction of our pre-retirement (OPEB) contribution.
Now at 3%, reduced from 3.5%. This reduction mitigates the 0.5% increase in pension contributions that took effect on July 1, 2023. Prefunding of Post-Retirement Health Benefits (9.24) also includes new language that ensures future increases (or decreases) in OPEB are based on actuarially-determined costs.

The Supplemental Health Benefits Contribution maintains our health care stipend.
Primary enrollees in a CalPERS health care plan shall receive an extra $165 on top of the regular employer premium contribution as determined through the 80/80 health care formula. This direct payment will be added to the state’s monthly contribution to pay for our workers’ health plan. This maintains the effective monthly net benefit of the original $260 health care stipend ($165 after taxes) and offsets employees’ monthly health care costs directly by providing a supplement to the employer contribution. The benefit would take effect in December 2023, and importantly, has no expiration date.

The Health Care Facility Retention Payment will be paid at three levels to eligible employees who worked onsite or provided in-person services more than 50% of the time during the pandemic. $1450 for employees working at a correctional facility, correctional health facility, state hospital, veteran’s home, and/or developmental services facility; a $1000 payment for CDPH employees in nine classifications; and a $625 payment for state special schools employees.

Here are some more highlights from our Tentative Agreement:

The Uniform Replacement Allowance (12.11) increased to $650 from $450.

The new ASL Proficiency Bonus (11. XX) creates a new incentive (up to $1500) for achieving higher levels of sign language skills.

We improved the Out-of-State Supplemental Health Care Program (9.4) by increasing the overall amounts, with additional adjustments based on plan party code (i.e., single, dependent, and family plans).

Our Business and Travel Reimbursement Program (12.1) requires the State to use the federal standard rates for meals, lodging, and incidentals established by the General Services Administration, resulting in increased reimbursements for our members.

We’ve strengthened the language in our Dignity Clause (5.11) to include “human dignity, courtesy, and respect.” In a similar fashion, we improved the Workplace Violence and Bullying Prevention Program (10.21) to include the Government Code definition of “abusive conduct.”

We doubled the number of hours (from 8 to 16/month) available for the Personal Leave Program (PLP) – Voluntary (Excludes Unit 21).

Improvements made in Bereavement Leave (8.3) expand eligibility to more of our represented employees when they experience a loss in the family.

We won additional safety protocols for our represented employees by placing an approved receptacle for syringes, blades, and the like in state restrooms with 10.XX Sharps Disposal.

What happens next?

To become a contract, our Tentative Agreement must go through a number of steps in order to become law and the document that governs our working relationship with the State. Those steps include approval by the Statewide Bargaining Advisory Committee, a ratification vote by Local 1000 membership, legislative approval, and the Governor’s signature. Click here to read more details about the steps we’ll be taking.