Bargaining Unit 21 went to the table with the State for their second bargaining session, negotiating for unit-specific contract advances for the Educational Consultants and Librarians we represent.
The April 24 session was hallmarked by the appearance of four subject matter experts who provided personal stories as a prelude to the proposal of a new contract article that would pay a $300 differential for our Transportation Program Consultants (TPC), who are required to hold and maintain a commercial driver license as part of their job requirements.
Andrew Peters, Ula Justus, and Kerri Gardner represented the TPCs, and shared the story of their responsibility in “training the trainers” who, in turn, train and certify the 56,000 bus drivers who transport more than a million of California’s K-12 students each year, while driving more than a quarter-billion miles.
“California’s school transportation system is the safest in the nation,” said Andrew Peters. “Our job requires significant driving experience, transportation management experience, and … a commercial license.” Our proposal aligns TPCs with other job classifications across the state who have similar licensing requirements and already receive a differential.
The team worked on two additional articles related to reimbursement related to maintaining those commercial licenses, and await the State’s response.
Hilary Thomson, Education Fiscal Services Assistant, was a fourth subject matter expert, and part of the one out of five Unit 21 employees that are not currently offered educational leave, despite the continuing education demands of their work. Our team presented a proposal to modify article 8.28.21, Educational Leave, to include the remaining eight (8) Unit 21 classifications not currently eligible for educational leave. At the same time, we proposed rollover language on a related article, 17.11.21, which converts unused educational leave into retirement service credits.
Following up on last week’s bargaining session, the Unit 21 team secured tentative agreement on eight different “rollover” proposals from last week, which maintain language from our current contract and preserve hard-won rights from past contract campaigns.
- 12.13.21 – Tools, Business Equipment, Materials and Supplies
- 14.4.21 – Duty Statements, Post Orders, and Work Instructions
- 15.4.21 – Employee Opportunity Transfer
- 19.1.21 – Hours of Work
- 19.16.21 – Shift Change
- 19.28.21 – Reduced Work Time
- 19.29.21 – Release Time for Commercial Driver’s License Examination
- 21.24.21 – Job Related Conferences and Conventions
You can read the details of these and all current contract articles at contract.www.seiu1000.org
Unit 21 returns to the table next week, on Monday, May 1. To see updates on other bargaining unit contract sessions, click here for our Contract Action Center page at www.seiu1000.org.
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