With 18 days remaining until our current contract expires, our Unit 11 bargaining team is deeply frustrated by the State’s purposeful avoidance of the business of bargaining. Today’s session, one of the shortest on record since we began, was beset with more delays and unanswered questions.
“In more than a decade of negotiating contracts, I’ve never experienced this lack of engagement by the State,” said Brad Willis, Unit 11 Chair. “We present proposals, but the State isn’t asking questions or seeking additional information. There’s no back-and-forth.”
At a time when our bargaining teams should be wrapping things up, we’ve hardly started. Today, 14 proposals remain unanswered by the State. Those proposals reflect the top priorities identified by the Engineering and Scientific Technicians we represent who participated in town halls and completed bargaining surveys.
Still, our team continues to press the State. Today, we proposed to roll over two contract sections that preserve hard-won rights from previous contract campaigns:
- 11.23.11 Out-of-State Pay Differential
- 11.51.11 Special Duty Pay
You can read the details of these and all current contract articles at contract.seiu1000.org
Unit 11 is currently set to return to the table next week, on Monday, June 19. An additional “make-up” bargaining session has tentatively been scheduled for Tuesday, June 20—solely dependent upon whether the State has anything to present or respond to.
To see updates on other bargaining unit contract sessions, please visit the Contract Action Center page at seiu1000.org
There’s real truth to the Local 1000 slogan, Stronger Together. We only win a great contract with a strong Local 1000 membership. So, if you’re not already a member, we encourage you to join us today.
And be sure to save your spot for the upcoming June 22 Rally at the Governor’s Office in Los Angeles here.