Bargaining Update – July 7, 2025

Bargaining Update #21

Glossary

PIC: Person in Charge

TA: tentative Agreement

CCL: current contract language

This week we received two (2) counter-proposals from the County, presented three (3) of our own, and reached a tentative agreement on Addendum F, regarding Library Services. 

During our afternoon session, we brought your voices directly to the bargaining table. We shared messages from our “Living Wage Campaign”, where Local 88 members from across the County told us what a living wage means to them. We captured these powerful, personal responses on green Post-it notes and prominently displayed them in the bargaining room. Our goal is to remind management that we represent over 4000 employees who are invested in gaining a living wage now. We even left your messages in the room for management to look at and reflect on during their lunch and our caucus times. Your voices continue to be a powerful driving force for our team! Thank you to everyone who shared in this action; we are closing the form and expect to plan for more upcoming solidarity events.

County Proposals

• • Addendum H: Drug and Alcohol Policy   

• Establishing Reasonable Suspicion

• • • • The County maintained our proposed language clarifying that an employee may request written specification of “reasonable suspicion” in the event a drug test is required, including the circumstances surrounding the drug testing and the reasons why the test was ordered.
      • The County did not agree to our language proposing that the employee should receive the written response from their supervisor within twenty-four (24) hours of the conclusion of the drug test. 

• Drug Testing

• • • • The County agreed to our language proposing that an employee shall be allowed to have their original sample re-tested by a secondary lab if they disagree with the results of the initial test.

• Article 25: Safety and Health

• Staffing

• • • The County has again refused to incorporate the concept of health into their obligation to provide “for the safety of employees.” In this most recent counter-proposal, they actually went a step further and crossed out the pre-existing current contract language that even recognizes their responsibility to “staff appropriately”. 
    • The County struck-out our language proposing Joint Staffing Reviews and refuses to acknowledge that excessive workloads “can contribute to employee stress, fatigue, and increased risk of injury.”

Union Counter Proposals 

• Addendum F: Department of Library Services

• Library Person in Charge (PIC) Assignment and Premium Pay

• • • We were close on this one with the County’s last counter-proposal.
      • We rejected their proposed shift-bid language that undermines seniority.
      • We accepted their language that a PIC may be reassigned to another geographic work location or branch.
    • The County accepted our counter-proposal and a tentative agreement has now been reached. 

• Article 19: Modification of Work Performed by the Bargaining Unit – Contracting, Intergovernmental Agreements, and Use of Volunteers

• Contracting

• • • • We proposed language specifying that “no bargaining unit employee shall be transferred, reassigned, demoted, have their work schedule altered or reduced, or be laid off due to contracting out.”
      • We also proposed language stating that while a bargaining unit employee has been laid off and is on the recall list, the County cannot contract or subcontract any work or services normally performed by that employee.  

• Volunteers

• • • We proposed language specifying that while the County has the right to use volunteers, the use of volunteers shall not “replace any bargaining unit positions or prevent the filling of bargaining unit positions.” We added that there shall not be any layoffs of bargaining unit employees as the result of the County’s use of volunteers.

• •  Article 20: Workload and Standards, Training, Performance Evaluation, and Organizational Excellence

• Workloads and Standards

• • • • We maintained our original proposed language stating that “significant changes to workload caused by layoffs, new technologies, or additional duties are changes in working conditions and thus subject to impact bargaining.”

• Non-Disciplinary Notices Regarding Performance or Conduct

• • • We’re getting closer together on this section, but in our counter-proposal we struck-out the County’s addition of “written” to the type of notice issued to an employee to make it clear that the employee’s rights should be maintained regardless of whether the notice they receive is written or oral. 

Where We’re At

Did You Know? 

• Per our AFSCME Local 88 constitution, the two (2) year term of our current Cabinet Officers and voting Executive Board members will end in September and we will be accepting nominations at our General Membership meeting on September 17th. Nominations will be accepted for:
  • President
  • Vice President
  • Treasurer
  • Secretary
  • Trustee
  • And twenty-seven (27) voting Executive Board seats.
• If positions are contested we will have an election. If you would like to learn more about any of the Cabinet Officer roles or about serving on the Executive Board, you can reach out to the Cabinet at 88cabinet@afscmelocal88.org or read more in our local 88 policies and constitution                                                  

Action Items & Events 

• July 14th, 6:30-7:30pm: Come join our Virtual Member Action Team Meeting as we continue to organize for our worker’s rights and a fair contract. We need you! Our membership is only as strong as our engagement. 
• Sign up to help plan our Labor Day Picnic! 
• We are making a virtual card for the Central Library staff following a public incident that occurred on July 3rd across from the library that resulted in the loss of a community member. Add your contributions here: We Appreciate Central Library Staff

Our counters can be found in our published proposals folder for everyone to read in more detail. Please keep emailing the Bargaining Team at bargaining@afscmelocal88.org with your questions and concerns. If you want to watch us bargain, sign up to be a Bargaining Observer! Follow Local 88 on Instagram and Facebook and check out the AFSCME Local 88 website to stay up to date on all our Local’s news.