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 20 (Medical and Social Services) bargaining table:
20 different classifications in Unit 20 received pay increases of 5% and 14% (11.1.20 Special Salary Increases). Another 21 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.
At DVA, overtime meals are now governed by stronger, expanded language that offers more flexibility in usage and reimbursement. (12.9.20)
Our uniform replacement allowance was increased to $650, a $200 increase. (12.11.20)
The ability to exchange time off has been expanded to include limited term and probationary employees. (19.9.20)
New language provides a workforce stability stipend of up to $9,000 for CNAs (Class Code 8185) working at Veterans Homes in West Los Angeles and Yountville (11.new.20). Another new contract provision provides an interpreter pay differential of $1500/month for SSA Interpreters, which is specific to the Porterville Developmental Center location. (11.NEW.20)
We’ve taken steps to standardize vacation scheduling at DVA and CDCR/CCHCS for Dental Assistants, Dental Hygienists, LVNs, CNAs, and MAs. (8.23.20, 8.25.20, 8.26.20)
We’ve extended the availability of training in the prevention and management of assaultive behavior or therapeutic strategies and interventions to include CDCR/CCHCS. (10.20.20)
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 working with management in a Joint Labor Management Committee (JLMC). (10.5.20)
At the California Veterans Homes, we increased the number of positions filled by Post and Bid from 65% to 70%. (20.11.20)
The previous work of our task force helped us secure the continuation of the pilot Post and Bid for Medical Assistants at CHCF/Stockton following the same annual process that the Dental Assistants use. (20.18.20)
We’ve created a task force to examine overtime distribution procedures at the California School for the Deaf in Fremont, which is a new provision in the contract. (19.XXXX.20)
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 approach to this process and will 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 extra 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, and the departments 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 20 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.