Following a flurry between Santa Clara County and union
officials, a deal was reached to extend contracts for 7,500 workers
to include wage increases and better health and retirement benefits
and averting a potential strike which could have crippled county
services.
Morgan Hill – Following a flurry between Santa Clara County and union officials, a deal was reached to extend contracts for 7,500 workers to include wage increases and better health and retirement benefits and averting a potential strike which could have crippled county services.
The contract was set to expire Sunday, but in the early morning hours of June 17, an agreement was reached, and later ratified by SEIU Local 715 union members, to extend the contracts for three years with a modest wage increase.
Starting June 19, workers received a 3 percent wage increase with a 4 percent increase beginning Dec. 17, 2007 and an additional 1 percent increase to go into affect in 2008 with a 2 percent one-time lump sum increase.
Also, workers, which include janitors, real estate appraisers, hazardous materials technicians and public health nurses, will receive improved retirement benefits which will increase to 2.5 percent at 55 years old from 2 percent.
The pension benefits are calculated based on the number of years a person has worked for the county, multiplied by 2.5 percent and the salary the employee makes. Someone who has worked 10 years with a $40,000 yearly salary would receive $10,000 in retirement benefits.
Union officials had said if an agreement had not been reached by the time the contract had expired, they would have asked workers to vote on a strike, which could have begun as early as June 19.
A deal was made at 3:30am on June 17, avoiding any work stoppages.
The strike could have affected services throughout Santa Clara County, including libraries and medical clinics in Morgan Hill and Gilroy.
“Everyone is happy that it didn’t have go to a strike,” said Gwendolyn Mitchell, public affairs director for Santa Clara County. “It is hard for employees who would not have been paid during that period. To be able to engage in a an agreement that we felt was fair was quite a relief.”
Brian O’Neill, chairman for the Santa Clara County chapter of the SEIU Local 715 Union, said the officials were trying to avoid a strike, but were preparing for the possibility.
“We are happy to settle without a strike,” O’Neill said. “We were working hard to settle with the county, but we were also working hard preparing for a strike.”
O’Neill said they weren’t sure what the exact scope of the strike would have been, but said it could have shut down all the county’s services for a period of time.
County Supervisor Don Gage, who represents South County, said he was pleased that a deal was reached and that the terms stayed within the county’s budget, preventing any work stoppages.
“That is always hard for our citizens in the county,” Gage said.
O’Neill said the union’s main goals heading into the negotiation were met, including employees receiving a “decent wage increase,” help protect their healthcare benefits, improve retirement benefits and better healthcare for “extra help,” or temporary workers.
Mitchell said the county had planned for the negotiations in the 2007 budget, which she said included wage increases. She added that the county will have to figure out what to do in the coming years, facing potential budget deficits through 2010.
Mitchell said the county in 2008 may have an estimated $161 million budget short fall with that number going up to $166 million in 2009 and $170 million in 2010.
County officials had hoped to close the gap with Measure A, which would have increased the sales tax by half a percent. Voters rejected the measure in the June 6 primary.
Mitchell said the county may have to look to staff reductions to help balance the budget.
Gage said the new contract will not directly affect the budget because the county had accounted for the wage increases for the next three years.
The new contract affects nurses, janitors, workers in the tax assessor’s office, road maintenance workers and mental health workers, among others.
The county, under the new contract, will pay for increases in healthcare costs.
Under the new contract, “extra help” can apply to receive health care benefits and the right to transition into permanent jobs. While the county would provide the benefits, the employees would have to pay the premiums.
Extra help employees are temporary workers to fill jobs that don’t have a full time person or to find a full time person would be difficult.
Mitchell said sometimes, the extra help employees stay with the county for several years.
Mitchell said employees need to pay the costs of the benefit, with 3.913 percent dock in the employees’ paychecks.
County nurses will also receive a one-time 15 percent raise to bring wages in line with other counties.
O’Neill said the raise, being classified as a realignment, will help to fill a shortage of nurses in the county.
“We got the county to recognize that these nurses do the same work as in hospitals,” O’Neill said.
Mitchell said the aspect of the new contract she is most pleased with is a provision in the contract which will require county managers to conduct employment performance reviews for all employees.
Gage said he was particularly pleased with the provision citing that 80 percent of employees were being evaluated as opposed to everyone.
“This way we can better manage what they are doing,” Gage said. “They want a (pay) increase, but there is no way to know if they are doing a good job or a bad job if they don’t get evaluated.”
