8/14 Bargaining Update

Last Wednesday (August 9th) our bargaining team met with management for our fifth bargaining session. While no tentative agreements were reached on any subject our bargaining team raised important arguments regarding our current proposals and concerns about management’s proposed changes to our health insurance benefits.

From the start of our preparations for bargaining we’ve attempted to be inclusive of the needs of all our members, considering different needs while focusing on our shared interests. We have attempted to craft our proposals with a concerted effort towards improving equity, specifically broadening the definition of family when it comes to sick and bereavement leave, leave to deal with immigration matters, improving transparency in the hiring and promotion process, supporting workers in their initial trial service period, and a process for dealing with discrimination and microaggressions in the work place. While management has made some movement on the definition of family for use of leave as well as immigration leave, their substantive response on the other issues is that they want to retain their management rights but have presented no alternative solutions. When we asked management if they utilized the County’s equity lens to review their proposal on health insurance benefits that includes reductions in benefits and increases in our out-of-pocket costs, we were told that they did not.

Finally, they responded to our proposal on improving contract language covering alternative work schedules and telework arrangements, we were told by management that they believe the current process is working fine.

Help us tell the management bargaining team why there needs to be more transparency in the hiring and promotion process by filling out this short questionnaire: https://goo.gl/forms/VGZFrDKlRyNTj9vb2

Provide your story to the bargaining team regarding your experience with alternative schedules and telework agreements by filling out the short form: https://goo.gl/forms/Rwlg422DAwnZk6oK2

For a complete break-down of all of our proposals as well as management’s proposals, click on this link: http://www.afscmelocal88.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Local-88-Multco-Side-by-Side.pdf

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