Union Update Newsletter

Last week, Sacramento’s Income Inequality Task Force recommended an increase in the city’s minimum wage to $12.50 an hour by 2020. The recommendation will now go before the City Council for review and public comment before a final decision is reached.

“We have raised the debate about income inequality and will continue the fight for fair wages throughout California so that no one who works full time lives in poverty,” said Yvonne R. Walker, Local 1000 president.

The deadly 2016 pension-gutting ballot initiative designed to bypass collective bargaining and threaten the retirement security of all public employees has passed another milestone, receiving a official title and summary from California Attorney General Kamala Harris.

Titled the “Public Employees. Pension and Retiree Healthcare Benefits. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.” the ballot measure “eliminates constitutional protections for vested pension and retiree healthcare benefits for current public employees.”

At a first-time meeting between Franchise Tax Board (FTB) Executive Officer Selvi Stanislaus and 20 Local 1000 stewards from that department, the union set out our road map to creating a cooperative, mutually-beneficial environment for workers and management.

“We’re here to build a relationship with FTB leadership based on support and collaboration,” said Yvonne R. Walker, Local 1000 president. “We can accomplish a lot together by communicating on critical issues and working together to find solutions.”

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.

The Young DLC (Driving Leadership and Change), a 35-and-under group of members who meet regularly to engage with the state workers of their generation, is one example of Local 1000’s commitment to creating a path to state service that is truly open to all Californians. Among its many outreach activities, the Young DLC hosts a number of career-building workshops designed to help state workers and prospective employees navigate the sometimes confusing path to working for California.

In just one year, the working conditions, wages and benefits of Local 1000 employees will be governed by a new contract—our current contract expires on June 30, 2016—and preparations are already underway by our bargaining teams to build negotiating strength.

More than 200 elected members from various classifications in our nine bargaining units meet regularly to map out strategies and a timeline for negotiations, which will begin in the spring of 2016.

Swift and decisive action by Local 1000’s legal department shut down a hostile manager’s suppression of our members’ right to conduct union activities at Department of Social Services (DSS). The union’s determination to not let bullying behavior stand forced DSS to agree to completely withdraw spurious charges against our members. 

“We’ll do whatever it takes to get these kinds of bogus adverse actions removed,” said Tamekia N. Robinson, vice president for organizing/representation. “There’s no way we will tolerate bullying of our stewards.”

When Jose Eric Alcaraz joined Local 1000, he got more than workplace representation; he discovered a conduit to the larger community issues he had wanted to be involved with all his life. “It’s the outlet I needed,” Alcaraz said.

A coalition of anti-union, anti-public employee groups, including the National Right to Work Committee, launched their latest attack against public employee pensions and the hard-earned retirement security of state workers.

Their misleading campaign, called the “Voter Empowerment Act of 2016,” would undermine collective bargaining and require voter approval for changes to pensions and other retirement benefits, including medical insurance. The initiative will soon move into the signature-gathering phase and will appear on the ballot next year.

Maureen Thompson is returning to her job with a fresh outlook on Local 1000’s work after completing a three-month legislative fellowship at our Sacramento headquarters.

Thompson’s fellowship opened up a new world for the member who has already served the union as a job steward, District Bargaining
Unit Representative (DBUR) for District Labor Council (DLC) 741 and delegate to the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council.

Thompson gained a sharper perspective on the challenges Local 1000 faces in this time of big money anti-labor attacks.

In Anthony Harrison’s workspace at EDD, he keeps a sign that says, “The changes we seek in our communities begin with us.” Harrison says the sign sums up this view of making the world a better place: involvement is everything. And Harrison wants to be involved.

Local 1000’s ongoing campaign to update the job specifications of nearly 4,000 Program Technicians (PT) got a boost when the state agreed to jointly interview workers about their duties in several key departments.

For people in more than 80 countries this Friday, May 1, is a national holiday that honors labor and working people. It is often referred to as International Workers’ Day, Labor Day or just May Day.

Although May Day is not a legal holiday in the United States, SEIU and many unions as well as our allies use May 1 to highlight issues of income inequality, worker dignity and, especially in recent years, immigration reform.

On Wednesday, thousands of people are joining fast-food workers, retail employees, child care workers, home care providers, airport workers and adjunct professors in rallies up and down the state and in more than 60 cities across the nation to demand fair pay for hard work: $15 and a Union.

“No one working full-time should have to live in poverty,” said Yvonne R. Walker, Local 1000 president. “We stand with these workers to ensure their prosperity and their ability to provide a dignified living for their families.”

“In today’s economy, when having both parents in the workforce is an economic necessity for many families, we need affordable, high-quality child care more than ever. It’s not a ‘nice-to-have.’ It’s a ‘must-have.’ So it’s time we stop treating child care as a side issue, or as a women’s issue, and treat it like the national economic priority that it is for all of us.”
-President Barack Obama

By enforcing our 2013 contract, a determined group of stewards has forced their division of the Department of Social Services (DSS) to accept joint labor management committees (JLMC) statewide and at all of its regional offices.

Local 1000 fought for JLMCs through a stewards’ grievance, affirmed by CalHR in a March 10 decision entitling 1200 DSS employees in the Disability Determination Service Division (DDSD) to actively participate in workplace change.

On April 15, Local 1000 will be out in full force on the National Day of Action in the Fight for $15 and a Union, demanding that corporate America pay all workers a living wage. Local 1000’s commitment to economic justice for all Californians means we stand strong for fair wages.

A Local 1000 delegation joined other SEIU members, staff, officers and non-union workers from across the country for the IGNITE! Sparking Leadership Conference March 7-10 in St. Louis. IGNITE partici-pants spent four days sharing their stories, exploring the connections between economic and social jus- tice, and visualizing what it would mean to win $15 an hour for millions of workers.

Local 1000 is sponsoring several bills this year that avoid contracting out public services, eliminate mandatory overtime for nurses, better deploy our prison libraries and librarians, and end the state’s practice of letting employee-misconduct investigations drag on for years.

“Our legislative focus is to build on our members’ strengths, so we have the power to better working conditions and to ensure social and economic justice for all Californians,” said Local 1000 President Yvonne R. Walker. “These bills will directly improve the lives of workers we represent.”

The crucial safety role of California Department of Education’s (CDE)’s Bus Driver Training Specialists will finally be recognized with new classification specifications and job titles, thanks to a hard-fought, years-long campaign by Bargaining Unit 21. The job specification revisions and the change of title to “Transportation Program Consultants” were finalized at a State Personnel Board hearing on March 5, 2015.

Building power in the community, facing challenges and developing union leaders were key themes of last week’s meeting of the Statewide Bargaining Advisory Council (SBAC) in Southern California.

Nearly 200 elected bargaining representatives from up and down California—including the 60-plus members who negotiate our contract with the state—meet three times each year to develop strategies for bargaining and to understand and respond to issues that affect our lives at work and at home.

More than 50 elected officials and key state agency executives met with Local 1000’s elected member leaders at a Capitol reception held Feb. 23.

The annual event allowed more than 100 member leaders from the union to meet and talk with state leaders about a range of issues affecting our work, our families and our communities. 

Thanks to an agreement negotiated by Local 1000, nearly all represented workers at the State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF) will receive a 2.4 percent performance award this year. Announced on February 20, the annual award will go to everyone who is qualified to receive it.

The state of California is moving forward with efforts to design a retirement-savings program for workers who do not have a pension or a savings plan through their employer.

The California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Investment Board voted on Jan. 26 to hire a law firm to help design the plan and to seek federal approval. Under SB 1234, the Local 1000-sponsored legislation that created Secure Choice, the board will present its final recommendations to the governor and Legislature for approval.

Working together to build a stronger, more responsive union, more than 300 member leaders, staff and community allies came together in San Diego Jan. 16th and 17th at Local 1000’s annual Real Time Strategic Change conference.

Responding to a changing political and economic landscape, the two-day meeting focused on developing member activists and leaders. 

For Regina Schumaker, the day-to-day grind of work, family responsibilities and stress were wearing her down. Like many of us, taking time to eat right and to exercise took a back seat to simply getting everything done on her daily to-do list. Unlike most of us, Regina also had to deal with the added emotional pain of being recently widowed and facing a future without her life partner.

Grassroots activism was at the heart 
of our wins and advances
Local 1000 members up and down the state took action on many different fronts in 2014 to build successful campaigns that protected our hard-earned contract rights, improved working conditions and elected lawmakers who respect and support working families.

Using the power of grassroots organizing, members came together to build strength at their workplaces and in their communities to solve issues that affect their lives, and the lives of their families, friends and colleagues.

In 2014, we made a difference.  We fulfilled our promises. We stayed true to our Purpose Statement. In December of 2013, several hundred of us met in San Diego and we pledged to use our collective power to defend the rights of state workers on the job and to fight for fair wages and retirement security for all. Over the last year, we have vigorously enforced our contract rights at every level, and we received our two percent wage increase in July.

Protecting our members’ rights in the workplace is at the core of Local 1000’s mission. How we represent our members can vary a great deal from answering simple questions about workplace rules in the contract to defending the interests of members in complex litigation at arbitration or in civil court.

Since it opened five years ago, Local 1000’s Member Resource Center (MRC) has fielded more than 426,000 calls from members, including over 67,000 so far in 2014.

Queries at the call center a block from the Capitol in Sacramento are usually simple requests such as the location and time of a union meeting or question about pay dates or holidays–most calls are resolved in less than three minutes. However, the calls can also involve distraught members who have just come from an upsetting confrontation with a supervisor.

Local 1000 activists at Pelican Bay prevail in unfair labor practices claim

After enduring months of intimidation and ridicule by management in an effort to quash their protected union activity, in October two Local 1000 stewards prevailed on their complaint of an unfair labor practice against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.  

During the month of October, Local 1000 members and staff had conversations with tens of thousands of voters about issues important to working families. In the five weeks leading to Election Day, during more than 3,500 volunteer shifts, we made calls and knocked on doors for candidates up and down the state.

Local 1000 members and staff are making a final important push between now and Election Day Nov. 4 to ensure that we reach as many voters as possible to encourage them to cast ballots in critical races throughout California.

Members are finishing up five weeks of phone banking tonight and tomorrow evening. This weekend begins four straight days of walking precincts to talk with targeted voters about what’s at stake in this election and why their vote matters.

Local 1000 a partner for progress at EDD 

Local 1000 member leaders recently concluded a series of statewide worksite visits with Patrick Henning, the recently appointed director of the Employment Development Department (EDD). Local 1000 worked with Henning so he would hear first hand what frontline workers have to say about unsustainable workloads, use of permanent intermittent workers and how high stress levels have affected them on the job.

Local 1000 wins settlement for DGS custodians

More than two hundred custodians working in the Department of General Services (DGS) will each receive $300 in a settlement that represents a victory for Unit 15 workers who are required to wear a uniform at work. The settlement covers “laundering and associated expenses” after several DGS custodians in southern California filed grievances complaining that the uniforms that they were handing over to the department for washing were coming back dingy and soiled. The cost of rewashing their uniforms –at home–began to add up.