See the summary of the Tentative Agreement and explanation of the ratification process below.
Tentative Agreement Summary:
This tentative agreement extends the current contract for one year with a COLA on July 1, 2021. Final calculations are being made on the Consumer Price Index but we anticipate that number being between 1.6 to 1.9%. The final percentage should be released in January.
The General Unit bargaining team and delegation are recommending this settlement for ratification for the following reasons. First, because of COVID, the decline in the economy and the reallocation of County resources to respond to COVID, the County anticipates over a $15 million shortfall in the General fund for fiscal year 2022. However, they do anticipate that the picture will improve substantially in fiscal year 2023 because anticipated improvement in the economy and the end to certain urban renewal districts which has an effect on County revenue. We feel that we will be in a much better position to bargain economic concessions from the County when they are on better economic footing rather than be tied into multi-year contracts at the beginning of the economic recovery. We feel this is an astute decision intended to best position us to negotiate improvements in our wages and working conditions in fiscal year 2023.
The agreement also includes minor changes in few other areas of the contract including:
- Article 3 – Updated current contract language to identify in the inclusion of most on-call and temporary employees in the bargaining unit.
- Addendum G – the County dropped a proposal to make the shift bidding process for 24-7 operation biennial. The process will remain status quo as an annual process.
- Addendum I – clarifying names of certain work units in MCSO.
Reminder of Changes from bargaining in of 2020:
As a reminder earlier this year we made a number of updates to the contract
- All pronouns changed to gender neutral
- Article 5 – “Union Security” to eliminate old fair share language and update maintenance of membership and union business time to be consistent with House Bill 2016 which was a reform to the Public Employees Collective Bargaining Act
- Article 7 “Holidays” – Added Juneteenth (June 19) as a recognized holiday
- Article 9 & 10 -”Sick Leave” and “Other Leaves” – Eliminated the expiration date in the contract on the more inclusive definition of family. Definition of family moving forward is “Any individual related by blood or affinity whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship.”
- Article 10 “Other Leaves” – Under Military Leave, Members of the National Disaster Medical System will receive paid leave during deployments.
- Article 11 “Health and Welfare” – Updated plan names (no plan design/benefit changes) and removed re-opener language that existed in prior CBA’s to address the excise tax.
- Article 14 – Double Time pay on fourth day of rest for full-time employees
- Article 16 – “Pensions” – Notice to members needs to be provided if there is a diversion of contributions to employees IAP (mitigation of SB 1049). Additionally retirees will be allowed to leave County insurance coverage and then opt back in one time.
- Article 17 – An agreement on the definition of job abandonment – if after 7 days of no contact by an employee, management will send a certified letter. If no response within 7 days of the letter the employee will be considered to have resigned. However, if an employee was not able to contact for a medical reason or other good cause the resignation will be rescinded.
- Article 21 “Seniority and Layoff” – Seniority calculation to include time spent on a non-FMLA/OFLA leave unpaid leave of up to 180 days that qualifies for ADA, Injured Workers Leave, of leave for the victims of domestic violence. An On-call employee that moves regular status will have time in on-call status since January 1, 2019 count on an hour for hour basis.
During the term of this contract we will continue work on a number of priority issues with the County including:
- Corrections/Jail-Side Differential. We’ll continue to work on this matter to reach a final conclusion for our members that work in the Jails and Detention.
- The premium subsidy calculation for part-time employees. Currently part-timers that work extra hours beyond their FTE are eligible for an additional premium benefit, however, that benefit is post tax. We’ll continue to work to make this benefit pre-tax as the arrangement is for all other premium subsidies.
- Part-time holiday benefits
- 360 degree evaluations for management – this is currently an ongoing discussion in the WESP.
Ratification Process:
Like in June, our election will be done online through a secure source called “election buddy.” A ballot will be sent to your personal email address (unless we don’t have a personal email address then it will be through your County address), and text message. Please vote by 8:00PM on Tuesday, January 5, 2021! If you don’t receive a ballot by December 22, please contact us at cabi@afscmelocal88.org
