County Chapter News

SSA Membership Meeting

CEMA members are encouraged to attend a meeting to discuss changes the Agency is proposing regarding the use of accrued STO right before retirement. The meeting will be held on Monday April 7, 2008, from 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm in the Saratoga Room on the second floor at 333 Julian. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend.

The Agency has informed CEMA that they are proposing to change a long standing practice of allowing employees to use accrued STO leave right up to an announced retirement date. CEMA has requested to meet and confer regarding this proposed change. We are holding the membership meeting to get direction and to inform you of possible options on how to proceed.

Membership Meetings

Date Tuesday, January 22 Wednesday, January 23 Thursday, Jauary 24
Time 12 noon - 1 pm 12 noon - 1 pm 12 noon - 1 pm
Place Berger Drive Auditorium Issac Newton Senter Auditorium Enborg Seminar Room
Address 1555 Berger Drive, Building 2 70 W. Hedding 2325 Enborg Lane, Room 102

Agenda

Ratify or Reject proposed changes to Scheduled Time Off (MOU Sec. 12.1) and Sick Leave (MOU Sec. 12.2)

Pursuant to MOU §12.1(e) the County and CEMA have met with the goal of converting the STO and sick leave accruals into a single annual leave accrual and to do so in a manner that is cost neutral to both parties. A summary of the County’s final proposal is below.

Summary of County Proposal

The County Proposes to exchange the current sick leave accrual of eight (8) days per year for five and one tenth (5.1) days of annual leave. If you have sick leave on the books at the time of conversion, you will continue to be able to use it as provided in §12.2 of the CEMA MOU. You will, however, not accrue any additional sick leave.

The five and one tenth (5.1) days annual leave will be combined with STO and, in the future, they will be referred to as the Annual Leave Plan. Other than changes to language to reflect the new annual leave plan, all of the provision of §12.1 will remain the same except §12.1(a) will have the following modifications:

  • Yearly accrual in work days, accrual factor per hour and accrual factor per PP will be changed at each level to reflect 5.1 additional days, and
  • The Maximum Allowable Balance will be increased by 15.3 work days at each level to accommodate the additional leave.

The language in §12.2 will be changed only to indicate that it applies to sick leave accrued prior to the conversion and to correct references to STO.

Recommendation

The CEMA Bargaining Committee and the CEMA Executive Board are recommending a “NO” vote on this proposal.

Although this proposal would allow CEMA members who have below average sick leave usage to take or cash out more paid leave, the Bargaining Committee and the Executive Board are both concerned that this proposal will have significant negative impacts on employees with chronic illnesses and on employees with family medical concerns. For those reasons we are recommending that you vote, “NO” on this proposal and we take another look at changes in STO and Sick Leave when we reopen the MOU in 2009.

To vote on this proposal you must attend one of the meetings listed above.

County Layoff Update - as of November 28, 2007

There are 30 members whose positions were eliminated in the June Budget actions and will be subject to layoff. The layoffs will occur on January 28, 2008. Members will receive layoff notices with in the next two weeks but no later than December 14, 2007. According to the staff from ESA approximately 12 employees will return to former class, 7 will use the in placement process and the rest will claim vacant codes. Everyone affected by the layoff will have some idea of where they are going by the Christmas Holiday.

Most of the layoffs (22) occurred in the Health and Hospital System, mainly in Public Health, Mental Health and Community Outreach Services. The Employee Services Agency is still identifying which codes will be vacated due to retirements and have cautioned CEMA that things are still fluid with the possibility of additional changes.

It is unlikely that anyone will actually be laid off (go out the door) and any issues that arise related to new assignments can be worked out between mid December and the end of January. If you believe you may be affected by the layoff please call the CEMA office and speak with Tom Starkey.

Download the 2006 Realignment Survey here.

Important Membership Meetings
Regarding 2006 Negotiations

Please note below our second series of membership meetings regarding 2006 negotiations. Please make plans to attend.

Membership Meetings

TUESDAY, Feb 21st
WEDNESDAY, Feb 22nd
THURSDAY, Feb 23rd
Location
Isaac Newton Senter
Auditorium
VMC Luther Burbank
Berger Dr. Auditorium
Address
70 W. Hedding Street
2400 Clove Drive
1555 Berger Dr., Bldg 2
Time
12 noon - 1:15 pm
12 noon - 1:15 pm &
4:300 pm - 5:45 pm
12 - 1:15 pm

Membership Meeting Agenda:

          1. A report on the results of the bargaining survey
          2. New negotiations issues that have not been identified thus far
          3. A brief discussion of the realignment process and time lines
          4. Negotiations Committee Nominations
          5. Update on the member recruitment and political action campaigns

Negotiations Committee Nominations

The CEMA Bylaws now allow for members to be nominated to serve on the Negotiations Committee. The Executive Board is looking to appoint approximately five members who submit a Negotiations Committee Nomination Petition (The petition can be downloaded here). These members will serve with five members from the Executive Board and the two Business Representatives.

Article 14 of the CEMA by-laws calls for members to be nominate by other members or themselves. The only requirement is that the nominee must submit a petition titled “Negotiations Committee Nominations Petition” with his/her name and the department in which they work. The petition must include the signatures of members who support the nomination. Members may begin now. All Negotiation Committee Nomination Petitions must be received in the CEMA Office by no later than 5PM on Friday, March 3, 2006. The Executive Board at their March 6th meeting will select negotiations committee members from among the petitions received. In making their final selection the Executive Board is required to consider members who fairly represent the major departments within CEMA and the major classifications.

Update on Bargaining on Impact of RNPA Settlement

The CEMA committee met with County Management on June 21st and October 27th. In the first meeting the CEMA Committee outlined our position which was that (1) CEMA nurse manager/supervisor classes that are compacted by the RNPA settlement should be adjusted by the same amount as RNPA including longevity adjustments; (2) CEMA classes that are promotional for nurses, whether or not they require an RN, should be adjusted also and (3) CEMA classes that work 24/7 in the hospital should receive the same differentials given to RNPA.

In the second meeting, the County responded that they would adjust compacted classes by an amount equal to that given to RNPA in April and November minus what CEMA received in August. The County would not make an adjustment for increases that RNPA will receive in May, 2006. They were not prepared to respond to the question of promotional classes. They said no to differentials. The County also indicated that they would not extend 7th steps to CEMA classes nor would they grant longevity increases but they were considering extending the 6th step to some classes that that do not currently receive it. The County indicated that this was not a complete response and that they would schedule an additional meeting to make a more comprehensive response.

We will keep you informed.

CEMA Bargains over Probation Internal Affairs

Without notice to CEMA the Probation Department has instituted an Internal Affairs (IA) Unit with authority over discipline of CEMA members, both Peace Officer and Civilian. When CEMA members notified CEMA of the new policy, CEMA immediately demanded that the Probation Department bargain (meet and confer) with CEMA over the impact of the new policy.

In reviewing the policy, the CEMA committee (composed of CEMA Executive Board member, Dolores Morales, CEMA Liaison, Susan Fowle, and CEMA Business Representative, Randy Johnese ) it became clear that a significant problem existed because the policy does not adequately differentiate between the rights of civilian and Peace Officer employees. For example, Peace Officers have certain protections under the Peace Officer Bill of Rights (POBOR) that civilian employees do not. On the other hand civilian employees have rights under the California Labor Code that do not apply to Peace Officers.

The CEMA committee has drafted a comprehensive response to the IA policy and we are now meeting with the Department to discuss it.

CEMA to Bargain over Impact of RNPA Settlement

The County's recent settlement with the RNPA has created problems for CEMA RN members. Some nurse managers are now in the position of supervising RN's that make more than them. Other nurse managers could make more by demoting to an RN position. This has serious consequences for the recruitment and retention of nurse managers.

To address this, CEMA has met with the CEMA RN members, an RN salary committee has been formed, and, shortly, they will begin meeting with the County over necessary adjustments to the salaries of CEMA nurse classes.


The CEMA RN salary committee prepares for discussions with the County

Earlier articles from the Santa Clara County Chapter News can be found here