BARGAINING 2005

Notes from the Bargaining Table
Update from the
5 p.m. September 6, 2005

Negotiations Stall Despite Labor Day Effort We spent all of the Labor Day weekend in bargaining. We left no stone unturned in our efforts to develop creative proposals to get an agreement before the legislature adjourns September 9.
We made some progress. We backed the state off its attack on our right to file grievances on sexual harassment and discrimination. We saved the "dignity clause." We moved the state to improve its position on several other items.
Our union’s contract campaign – all the work-site actions, solidarity breaks, petitions, pickets, and e-mail campaigns – produced these smaller victories.
But in the end, the governor did not get the message. His economic and other takeaways – which could cost state workers up to 14% out-of-pocket - remain on the table. These include cuts to our retirement, health care for current and new employees, overtime, a mandatory five-day furlough and deletion of contracting-out language. The state has still not put a wage proposal on the table – except for an inadequate proposal for nurses in Unit #17.
We are still ready and willing to continue negotiations.
But now we must shift much of our effort to a campaign to win the improvements we need and defeat the Governor’s attacks on our retirement and health care by defeating his anti-state employee initiatives on November 8.
We’ve got to beat the Governor on Proposition 76, which would give him the authority to overturn any contract we negotiate. We’ve got to beat the Governor on Proposition 75, which would silence our voice in California politics. If we win in November, we will be in a strong position to save our retirement, and win the economic improvements we need.
We ask all members of Local 1000 to join us in this campaign – please call your union steward, your union rep, or go to www.seiu1000.org for information on how to get involved.