After a short holiday break, the Unit 14 team returned to the bargaining table today to represent our print tradespeople in the fight for a fair contract that respects, protects, and pays all SEIU Local 1000 workers a fair wage.
We presented three proposals today, two of which were rollover proposals featuring hard-earned rights won in previous contracts:
- 19.9.14 Exchange of Time Off – Multi Shift Operations (Unit 14)
- 19.13.14 Overtime Assignment for Workweek Group II (WWG2) Employees (Unit 14)
“Section 19.13.14 is significant because in previous negotiations, the State actually proposed to take this away from our Unit 14 workers,” said Unit 14 Chair and Printing Process and Operations Planner Robert Vega. “We’ve had problems in the past when equipment operators were asked to put in overtime. Managers would often assign lower classification employees to perform the work in order to save money. This strong union language allows us to maintain this benefit for WWG2 employees and ensure the distribution of overtime continues to be based on seniority. That would be a big win for us.”
Unit 14 also proposed one section of new language today:
- 14.7.14 Assignment of Duties Normally Performed by Bargaining Unit Employees (Unit 14)
The benefit of section 14.7.14 begins with the fact that Unit 14 is specifically excluded from the Master Table language, so the team proposed to strengthen it by adding in some additional requirements for notification to the Union within this section. Specifically, the team asked that the State provide the basic information that the Union would have to request within an information request after receiving the notice.
In essence, that means the State would be required to tell us that they intend to do something that may negatively impact our workers. In addition, they would be required to do the research prior to noticing us regarding who is impacted, how they are impacted, what is causing the impact, and how that work will change—and for all of this to be contained in the notice. These measures would allow us to minimize response times to our employees so that they can quickly provide us with their opinion on any decision we might make in turn.
But the best news of the day might have been that the State presented four rollover articles to the team. “That’s reason itself for us to be excited,” said Ed Page, a Print Processing and Operations Planner at OSP. “However, we’re disappointed that the State has still not responded to many of our outstanding proposals.”
Unit 14 returns to the table next week, on Tuesday, June 6. To see updates on other bargaining unit contract sessions, please visit the Contract Action Center page at www.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 8 March to the Governor’s mansion here.