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 in to 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 17 (Registered Nurses) bargaining table:
14 different classifications in Unit 17 received pay increases of 5% (11.1.17 Special Salary Increases). 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.
The educational differential for RNclassifications increased $25, which means it went from $50 up to $75. (11.57.17)
The CDPH Health Facilities Evaluator Nurses LA County Travel Incentive went from 80hrs/10 days down to 40hrs/5 days with a travel incentive that went from $167 up to $250. (11.59.17)
Seniority differential! Effective July 1, 2024 through July 1, 2026, multiple RN classifications will receive a seniority differential as follows: 17-19 years of state service will receive 2% of their total salary; 20-22 years will receive 3% of their total salary, effective July 1, 2024. Effective
July 1, 2025 – July 1, 2026 RNs with 23-24 years of state service will receive 4% of total salary. Effective July 1, 2026 RNs with 25yrs or more of state service will receive 5% of their total salary. All of these payments will be pensionable. (11.XXX.17)
We’ve made steps to standardize vacation scheduling at DVA and CDCR/CCHCS. (8.26.17, 8.27.17)
With stronger language, we’re ensuring that safety orientation in 24-hour facilities happens within 45 days of hire and provided a process to solve issues quickly, by meeting with management in a Joint Labor Management Committee (JLMC). (10.5.17)
We’ve extended the availability of training in the prevention and management of assaultive behavior or therapeutic strategies and interventions to include CDCR/CCHCS. (10.19.17)
Overtime meals are now governed by stronger, expanded language that offers more flexibility in usage and reimbursement for DVA and CDCR/CCHCS. (12.9.17)
In ten different contract sections, we made great advances in mandatory and voluntary overtime:
- Greater transparency with a standardized mandate list. Each facility will maintain a universally-available list of impacted employees with dates of last mandated shift. This system will provide a fair and open process, to ensure that credit for working a mandated shift is duly recorded.
- Better protection for days off. We’ve safeguarded against mandated shifts the day before any pre-approved day off. You can’t be mandated to work overtime on the last day of your regularly scheduled week, nor can you be mandated to work the day before any pre-approved day off.
- Stronger task force, early negotiations. This is our biggest win – new language that creates a Joint Labor-Management Task Force to create solutions for MOT, along with implementation plans for those solutions. The task force will meet every other month and issue a joint report to CalHR, Department of Finance (DOF), and the department heads. Here’s the kicker: this new agreement allows Local 1000 to re-open all MOT-related contract article sections on or after July 1, 2025, well before our next traditional round of contract bargaining. It’s an unheard-of accomplishment by SEIU and gives us optimism for future improvements.
This email summary shares highlights from the Unit 17 table; you may have already received the email recap from the master table. During the ratification process, you’ll be able 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.