Early Saturday morning, the SEIU Local 1000 bargaining team reached an overall Tentative Agreement with the State. If ratified, the contract would significantly raise the wage floor for tens of thousands of state workers. It represents the largest three-year contract in Local 1000 history.
At the master table, we negotiated a retroactive pay raise for all employees, won retroactive special salary adjustments for more than 300 job classifications, maintained the health care stipend with no expiration date, reduced the pre-retirement (OPEB) funding, secured a health facility retention payment, and added, changed, or preserved a number of skill-based differentials, allowances, and other reimbursements that factor into our state income. Our general salary increase, our wage equity increase, and our unit-based Special Salary Adjustments are retroactive to July 1, 2023.
Here are the highlights from the Unit 14 (Printing and Allied Trades) bargaining table:
13 different classifications in Unit 14 received pay increases of 5% (11.1.14 Special Salary Increases). Another 5 classifications received 4% (11.5 Wage Equity Adjustment). These increases are on top of the general salary increase, retroactive to July 1, 2023, and pensionable. You can read a complete list of classifications affected by these increases here.
14.7.14 Assignment of Duties Normally Performed by Bargaining Unit Employees. This agreement (with an important language change) brings Unit 14 job protections into parity with other Local 1000-represented bargaining units. It adds an important meet-and-confer provision that enables the Union to better preserve our work and our jobs.
A new contract section (14.X.14) launches a classification review for the Printing Trades Specialist Trainee series. Upon completion of that review, the State and our Union will jointly identify recommendations for changes to the Digital Print Operator Series, a right granted to Unit 14 through another new contract section (14.XX.14).
This email summary shares highlights from the Unit 14 table; you may have already received the email recap from the master table. During the ratification process, you’ll be able to read and learn more detail about the Tentative Agreement. Besides email, we’ll be posting information about our Tentative Agreement on our Contract Action Center page.
What happens next?
To become a contract, our Tentative Agreement must go through a number of steps in order to become law and the document that governs our working relationship with the State. Those steps include approval by the Statewide Bargaining Advisory Committee, a ratification vote by Local 1000 membership, legislative approval, and the Governor’s signature. Click here to read more about what steps we’ll be taking.