Bargaining surveys will be sent out in February and March 2024. 

Bargaining Team will be formed in March 2024. 

Contract Action Team will be formed in March 2024.

Monterey County negotiations begin in June 2024. 

Monterey County negotiations will conclude before December 2024. 

2022 Negotiations

December 23, 2022

Out of 265 eligible voters, 169 voted and the Monterey County MOU was ratified by a 95% margin! Thank you to everyone who voted. CEMA/OE3 hears from our membership very clearly that this is a foundational agreement we can all be proud of. CEMA/OE3 staff and the Monterey County negotiations team extend their appreciation to everyone who has voted, filled out all the surveys, and reached out to CEMA/OE3 to stay engaged. Our members' input and direction made all the difference!

December 21, 2022

CEMA/OE3 held a Special Site Meeting and discussed the highlights of the Monterey County MOU that include:

  • A 2-year agreement ending December 31, 2024, that, if ratified, will go into effect December 31, 2022.
  • Base wage increases of:
    • 3.5% in the 1st year
    • 2.5% in the 2nd year
  • County Contribution to the Medical Insurance will be as follows:
    • PERS Platinum for 2023:
      • $908.01 for employees only
      • $1,904.02 for employees plus one
      • $2,499.23 for employees plus family
      • There is no Cash-out for those who elect to enroll in the PERS Platinum plan.
    • PERS Gold for 2023:
      • $792.84 for employees only
      • $1,667.68 for employees plus one
      • $2,190.18 for employees plus family
      • Any funds from the County contribution not used on the PERS Gold healthcare plan will be Cashed-out
  • If the 2024 CalPERS Gold premiums increase by four percent (4%) or more from the 2023 premiums, the County will have an increase of 7% of their contribution to all healthcare plans provided.
    • CEMA/OE3 fought hard to get the automatic escalator of 7% if healthcare premiums increase by 4%, and we are the only bargaining unit with it. This should be considered a huge win.
  • Longevity Pay is as follows:
    • Ten (10) consecutive years of service will receive a premium pay of two and a half percent (2.5%) of their base wage.
    • Fifteen (15) consecutive years of service will receive a premium pay totaling three and a half percent (3.5%) of their base wage.
    • Twenty (20) consecutive years of service will receive a premium pay totaling five and a half percent (5.5%) of their base wage.
  • Language that allows Department Heads to authorize up to an additional sixteen (16) hours for those of us on eight (8) hour shifts and twenty-four (24) for those of us on twelve (12) hour shifts for working past eighty (80) hours per pay period.
  • The inclusion of the Eco Recess this year and for the term of the agreement.
  • An expedited Classification and Base Wage Compensation Study procedure that will complete studies within one fiscal year.
    • This is a new process that we introduced to Monterey County, and CEMA/OE3 be the only group with this type of language in their agreement.
  • Language that allows for holiday pay.
  • Memorialization of current retirement benefits.
  • On-call and call-back compensation for identified departments.
    • On-call: $50 per day
    • Call-back: Straight-time pay for hours worked
  • Language addressing telework.

December 20, 2022

CEMA/OE3 reached a Tentative Agreement! CEMA will hold a Special Site Meeting on December 21, 2022, to discuss all the details with the membership and open up the ratification vote.

December 19, 2022

Per CEMA's Bylaws, we sent out a notice for a possible ratification vote today. The vote will open on Wednesday, December 21, 2022, and run until Friday, December 23, 2022.

December 15, 2022

CEMA/OE3 is getting very close to completing a Tentative Agreement with Monterey County. CEMA/OE3 responded to all the proposals CEMA/OE3 received at its last bargaining session and turned around base wage increases, Monterey County's contribution to healthcare, and the special pay differential that Monterey County presented to CEMA/OE3.

December 7, 2022

With almost all of the proposals on Monterey County's side, CEMA/OE3 received five (5) responses. Monterey County countered our proposals on health benefits, layoff procedures, confidential employee designations, discipline procedures, and grievances.

December 1, 2022

CEMA/OE3 continues to press to have an agreement in place as quickly as possible. So when Monterey County couldn't meet with us this week, we requested to submit our proposals via email, and that's precisely what we did. CEMA/OE3 met yesterday, crafted our responses, and submitted ten proposals to Monterey County's Labor Relations team today. CEMA/OE3 is looking forward to meeting with them again next week and seeing where they stand now that most of the proposals are back on their side of the table.

November 21, 2022

CEMA/OE3 had a productive meeting with Monterey County. CEMA/OE3 each had four proposals to pass. CEMA/OE3 moved very close to having tentative agreements on the articles of retirement and teleworking. There was also significant movement on both sides in the other six (6) articles we passed and both sides expressed a desire to finalize the agreement, possibly even before the end of the year.

November 17, 2022

CEMA/OE3 Our survey that went out to all our Monterey County members to determine the top priorities currently still on the bargaining table closed today. CEMA/OE3 received 188 responses with a 100% completion rate, and 70 members even left additional comments. CEMA/OE3 will analyze the results, and our subsequent movements at the table will be based on the direction we received from the member's answers.

November 7, 2022

CEMA/OE3 met with Monterey County's Labor Relations representatives for all-day negotiations. CEMA/OE3 had prepared our proposals the previous week and presented seven responses for the following items: health benefits, special pay differentials, retirement, base wage increases, probation, emergency authority, and layoff procedures.

October 19, 2022

CEMA/OE3 saw the most significant movement in our economic proposals, and we tentatively agreed on four more articles. CEMA/OE3 is very pleased with the progress we're making. CEMA/OE3 also met with Supervisor Wendy Root-Askew. The Supervisor let us know her passion for serving the community drew her to Office. CEMA/OE3 conveyed that many of our members shared that same passion for serving the community. And while we all want to be a betterment for those around us, CEMA/OE3 also need assurances that our members can take care of their families and themselves while serving others. The Supervisor seemed to agree, and CEMA/OE3 hopes we made an impression that will aid our efforts as we continue negotiations.

October 13, 2022

CEMA/OE3 continue to close the gap on issues, our group worked diligently to prepare ten (10) response proposals early in the week and presented them to the Monterey County's Labor Relations team during our full day of negotiations today.

October 6, 2022

CEMA/OE3 Negotiations Team and CEMA/OE3 staff met with Supervisor Luis Alejo to discuss CEMA/OE3 priorities in negotiations and how CEMA/OE3 can build a productive partnership with his office as CEMA/OE3 grows in Monterey County.

September 30, 2022

During CEMA/OE3’s four-hour negotiations meeting, CEMA/OE3 received responses not only to the economic proposals from the previous meeting but to all the economic proposals CEMA/OE3 had introduced. Monterey County and CEMA/OE3 are still far apart, which is expected this early in negotiations; however, CEMA/OE3 is committed to closing that gap through thoughtful and informed responses to the counters as quickly as possible. CEMA/OE3 also wants to keep progress in the non-economic areas. In that vein, CEMA/OE3 presented two affirmative proposals that outline expectations for the disciplinary process should layoffs ever occur.

September 21, 2022

CEMA/OE3 responded to all the economic counters received during the previous negotiations meeting. CEMA/OE3 prepared two responses to procedural counters and one affirmative proposal earlier in the week and presented those as well. Monterey County came to the table with two counters CEMA/OE3 introduced a few weeks back and agreed to have tentative agreements on three others.

September 16, 2022

CEMA/OE3 engaged in an eight-hour negotiation meeting with Monterey County. Both sides passed several proposals, including the County countering some of our earlier economic proposals.

September 2, 2022

CEMA/OE3 met with Monterey County for an eight-hour negotiation meeting via Zoom. At the end of the session, CEMA/OE3 tallied all the proposals CEMA/OE3 presented over the last four meetings, including most of the economic articles. That's big! County counterparts have noted multiple times that CEMA/OE3 is making rapid progress compared to other units during their negotiations and have demonstrated that CEMA/OE3 is serious about getting an agreement done.

August 30, 2022

CEMA/OE3 had a short and productive three-hour negotiation meeting with Monterey County. CEMA/OE3 presented two (2) proposals: one (1) economic and one (1) procedural. CEMA/OE3 received Monterey County's response to CEMA/OE3's counters from the last meeting and the proposal CEMA/OE3 presented during the August 18 meeting.

August 24, 2022

CEMA/OE3 had another five-hour bargaining session and received two responses from Monterey County on proposals submitted during the previous meeting. Upon receiving those, CEMA/OE3 took a quick caucus to discuss Monterey County's proposed changes with the CEMA/OE3 Bargaining Team, formatted the counters, and returned those to Monterey County within the hour. CEMA/OE3 submitted four (4) more proposals of our own that CEMA/OE3 believes will be more significant economic articles of the agreement.