Led by Bargaining Chair Robert Vega, the Unit 14 Bargaining team met with the State again on Tuesday, May 9, to negotiate a contract that respects, protects, and pays our print trades workers a fair wage.
In today’s negotiating session, Vega and his colleagues presented four proposals along with two rollover proposals to the state. “Rollovers” are articles that remain unchanged from the current language. These agreements keep in place hard-won rights from previous contract campaigns. Today’s Unit 14 rollover articles included:
- Article 11.52.14 – M1000 Skill Pay Differential (Unit 14)
- Article 11.53.14 – HP10,000 Skill Pay Differential (Unit 14)
The BU 14 team also presented two new language proposals to the State, each a request for a special classification review and each unique in their own right; one is for a Printing Trade Specialist Trainee series (PTSTs) and the other a proposal for a Digital Print Operator series (DPOs).
The Printing Trade Specialist Trainee series has been a low-paid position within Unit 14 that has been utilized to a large degree as a utility position. The State currently pays them a lower wage in order to gain more efficiency, to the detriment of the facility and the individuals. With this proposal, Unit 14 is seeking to outline pathways for those individuals to achieve greater upward mobility.
The work for the Digital Print Operator series has changed dramatically, and these workers are now asked to do significantly more work. Not surprisingly, this has caused a correspondingly large 30% vacancy rate.
With the four additional Tentative Agreements (TAs) on rollover language proposed today and four from the prior meeting, BU 14 has now signed 8 TAs total.
The bargaining team is looking forward to next week when they will host the State of California negotiating team on a site visit at DGS OSP, where the State will see what we do and what our working conditions are like in person.
Following the tour, the teams will meet in the afternoon to present substantive economic proposals to the State.
“The leaders of our bargaining team deserve a lot of credit for how they presented the new proposals,” added Ed Page, a Print Processing and Operations Planner at OSP. “They were very well received, and we’re looking forward to this translating into better outcomes for all of our workers.”
To read about what happened in Tuesday’s Bargaining Unit 1, 3, 4, and 17 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