Update – Contract ratification results:
On April 22, 2016, members at LACOE voted to ratify a new contract agreement. 89% of voting participants approved the new contract. Final vote count was: 274: Yes, 34: No.
Click Here for a summary of the newly ratified agreement.
Click Here for the full language of the newly ratified contract.
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On March 29, 2016, our Union bargaining team reached a Tentative Agreement (TA) on a new full contract for 2015-2018. The full text of the Tentative Agreement includes both the language negotiated for the new 2015-2018 contract, plus the changes previously negotiated and ratified for our 2014-2015 reopener settlement.
Click here for a summary of the Tentative Agreement.
Click here for the full language of the Tentative Agreement.
Ballots are being mailed to the home addresses on record for SEIU Local 99 members at LACOE. Mail ballots must be returned no later than close of business on Wednesday, April 20, 2016, in order to be counted. Members who don’t vote by mail may vote in person at various locations on Friday, April 22, 2016 (details will be available soon). Non-members may complete a Local 99 membership application in order to receive a ballot and vote.
Learn more about the tentative agreement at one of the following Informational Membership Meetings:
Southern Region – Downey
Thursday, April 7, 2016
11:00am – 12:00p
12:00pm –1:00p (Raffle @ 1p)
Location – EC 202
Northern Region – Palmdale
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
9am – 10am
Location – Christa McAuliffe PAU/Camp Challenger
5300 W. Avenue I, Lancaster, CA 93536
MUST HAVE ID TO ENTER, PLEASE WEAR LACOE BADGE
Lancaster
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
5p – 6P (Raffle @ 6p)
Location – Palmdale Job Club
1050 East Palmdale Blvd., Suite 207-B, Palmdale, CA 93550
Valley Region – Northridge
Thursday, April 21, 2016
3:30p – 4:30p
5:00p – 6:00p (Raffle @ 6p)
Location: SEIU San Fernando Valley Office
8363 Reseda Blvd., Suite 6, Northridge, CA 91324
818/407-0206
Click Here for a flyer with the above informational meeting schedule.
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Summary of March 28, 2016 Negotiations Session:
Today, reached pending tentative agreements on leaves of absence, performance evaluations, and shift premiums. We continue bargaining tomorrow, March 29, 2016, to attempt to resolve the remaining open items. Look for a detailed update following our negotiations tomorrow.
Summary of March 18, 2016 Negotiations Session:
We met all day and made some progress on the remaining unresolved items, which include: salary, longevity pay, training/career development, shift premiums, performance evaluations, and leaves of absence. Our next meeting is set for March 28, 2016.
Summary of March 10, 2016, Negotiations Session:
As a result of our conversations in negotiations today, we now clearly realize that Management and Your Bargaining Team are not on the same page.
We discussed and presented many of the issues SEIU Local 99 members at LACOE have brought up to the Bargaining Team; however, the Office is in a position of resistance. Some changes discussed today include Article VII, Article VIII, Article IX, Article XIII and Article XVI. They even rejected closing positions based on reverse seniority!
Please review the articles as they are crucial to our negotiation process as we fight to obtain the best possible contract.
| Please attend an upcoming membership meeting where we will plan together our united response to the Office’s unwillingness to listen to us! |
Dates and locations coming soon.
—FEBRUARY 2016—
Summary of February 25, 2016, Negotiations Session:
In negotiations today, we received counter proposals from the Office on Article XIII, Article XV and Article IX. We continue to work towards a good and solid collective bargaining agreement.
Today we were able to tentatively agree on the following articles in our collective bargaining agreement:
Pending TAs:
- Preamble
- Article II—Definitions
- Article V—Grievance Procedures
- Article VIII—Procedures for Evaluation of Performance
- Article XI—Safety
- Article XV—Duration & Renegotiations
- Article XVII—Non-Discrimination
- Article X—Transfer Procedures
- Article XVI—Seniority for Layoff
The following articles that we continue to work on are:
- Article IX—Compensation
- Article VII—Leaves
- Article XIII—Career Development and Training
The following articles remain unchanged:
- Article I
- Article III
- Article IV
- Article VI
We are scheduled to meet again on Thursday March 10th!
—JANUARY 2016—
Summary of January 28, 2016, Negotiations Session:
In negotiations today, we presented proposals which included compensation. We continue to review the final drafts of articles that have been presented. To preview the articles please attend an upcoming membership meeting.
- Downey, February 18 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
- Antelope Valley, February 25 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
- Los Angeles, February 27 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Now that compensation has been presented, we believe we are getting close. We also believe that soon they will present their last best and final offer, and at that time you as members must make a decision. See you at the next meeting!
Summary of January 26, 2016, Negotiations Session:
During SEIU Negotiations, we discussed in great detail the County School Service Fund, which reports past expenditures and projects LACOE’s budget for the coming year. LACOE has a number of mandated cost increases and priorities. SEIU Bargaining Unit members expressed our fear that our pay will not keep up with the cost of living. LACOE can and must keep our unit members a priority even in face of tough budget circumstances.
Also, we received a “PENDING 2015-1018 Tentative Agreement.” The SEIU Bargaining Team will review the language for integrity and consistency.
Finally, we continue to work on the new Evaluation Form and Procedure.
—DECEMBER 2015—
Summary of December 21, 2015, Negotiations Session:
Our Bargaining Team is very pleased to report that LACOE has now agreed to accept our proposal on the Preamble to include the clause ‘dignity and respect’! This is a huge change in the direction that these sessions have been moving. We will meet again on January 26, 2016, to review all articles presented to date. We gave them our proposals on career development and evaluation today and look forward to receiving feedback during our next session. We had discussions regarding “bumping by region” and, in reviewing different scenarios, it was determined as a team that it is in our best interests for the majority of our bargaining unit to remain status quo. Finally we had a very detailed conversation regarding our evaluation tool and process. We are moving forward with the development of a committee to update our current system to ensure that it truly meets our needs. Make no mistake, the acceptance of the Preamble and the forward discussion of the evaluation process makes a significant shift in the culture at LACOE.
—NOVEMBER 2015—
Summary of November 30, 2015, Negotiations Session:
We had serious and lengthy discussions regarding inserting dignity and respect language in our contract. We believe as a result of this lengthy and detailed discussion, that the Office better understands our position and why we are fighting so intently and we are holding our ground. We also spoke about the process regarding the inclement weather. We reviewed information from the LACEA contract page 148, which referenced Ed Programs Directive (click here). As the holidays are swiftly approaching, we also discussed the process for site closures during the holidays. We reiterated our proposal to do away with the “use it or lose it” policy for our vacation accrual. We introduced the possibility of adding Cesar Chavez Holiday (March 31) as one of our holidays; however, in the discussion it was noted that in most cases Lincoln’s Birthday has been traded with Cesar Chavez Day. In essence, they have President’s Day and Cesar Chavez Day as days off. We look forward to meeting again on December 21st prior to the commencement of our holiday. If you have any questions, we look forward to seeing you at membership meetings on 12/10 and 12/17!
Summary of November 16, 2015, Negotiation Session:
LACOE Management engaged in involved yet productive dialogue surrounding Article VIII—Evaluations, Article IV—Union Rights, and Article XVII—Discrimination. The bargaining team suggested meaningful and systemic change in the process of Evaluations and representation during grievances. Your continued support is not only appreciated but critical to our negotiations to make LACOE a much better place to work. Our next negotiations session will be November 30th, 2015. Please stay tuned for updates for Membership Meetings.
—OCTOBER 2015—
Summary of October 6, 2015, Negotiation Session:
The Office countered on TWO Articles from our last session. Aside from saying no to everything, they want to take away our ability to call in for a ‘1 or less’ vacation day. They still want to use ‘forced vacation’ for site personnel during Winter Break. They did not accept the most important things in our proposal for Career Development. They merely accepted the change in language from ‘tuition reimbursement’ to ‘educational reimbursement’. They refused to agree to increase the proposed 4 hours release and extend the release for the year. To summarize the Office has presented 1 Proposal and 5 counter proposals. Needless to say we are we still worlds apart, and we have not even begun to discuss compensation.
—SEPTEMBER 2015—
Summary of September 14, 2015, Negotiation Session:
Definitions: The Office tentatively accepted our definition of spouse – ‘regardless of gender’.
Article VII: We presented language from Article VII to ensure that unit members at the site would not be forced to either take personal time off or come to Downey during the Winter Break. We also submitted a proposal for cash pay out of accrued vacation in excess of your accrual limit. Additionally we submitted language to have your administrator approve your vacation within 3 working days in NovaTime. We also included ‘19’ in the years of service category.
Article VIII: We presented a proposal to further define our definition of the Evaluation Performance process should be. This included language that it is the supervisor’s responsibility to train employees that are new in their job assignment. i.e. Evaluations are personal in nature, fair and the evaluator should have the final say on your evaluation not someone that is above the evaluator. It should no longer be said that, ‘the director told me to give you these marks’.
Article IX: We presented a proposal for unit members who are assigned to haul materials and/or tools in their personal automobiles of fifty pounds or more to receive $1 for every pound of suck bulk material for each day or part of a day worked.
Article X: We presented a proposal that the immediate administrator interview all members listed on transfer request list.
Article XI: We presented a proposal to request a ‘Medication Room(s) with appropriate equipment, furniture and security to ensure there is a safe secure environment for unit member(s) to utilize throughout the day.
Article XIII: We presented a proposal to change the language from tuition reimbursement to educational reimbursement which will include tuition, books and fees. We also increased the maximum $1,000 to $2,000 per fiscal year. We also requested applications for time off to be ‘per fiscal year’. We requested to increase the number of hours to 4 hours per week. Language was introduced to include prerequisites and general education requirements shall be considered relevant to the training needs of the Office. Our proposal also included to increase the fund to $25,000 per fiscal year. Additionally, our proposal included language for unit members that applied for an internal promotion or transfer within the Office – to have the hiring authority/manager talk or counsel each unit member that was not chosen to fill the vacancy.
—AUGUST 2015—
We met on Tuesday, August 25th for another round of negotiations. There were several things that we learned from the survey as well as talking with many of you, it seems many of you are not being treated with ‘Dignity and Respect’. As a result, that we incorporated that request in our Preamble; All employees shall be treated with dignity and respect. This inclusion was rejected by the Office. Additionally, the Office now believes ‘they are the County’ and are looking to incorporate Los Angeles County policies into our contract. NOT! They rejected adding sub-custodians to our bargaining unit. They did not comprehend wanting to provide a clear definition of ‘Evaluator’. We realize that many of you have multiple people that provide direction and provide tasks for you to complete. Why is it so hard for the Office to define who your evaluator is?
—JULY 2015—
Our full contract is open. Your Bargaining Team wants to say thank you for responding to our survey. The team plans to submit others throughout this session of negotiations. Please note several items listed on the survey were not contract related and we plan on addressing those issues during our upcoming Membership Meetings:
Thursday, August 20th in the Antelope Valley, 4:30– 6:00 p.m.
at Christa McAuliffe PAU (Camp Challenger)
—and—
Thursday, August 27th in Downey
every 30 minutes from 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m.
and 6:30– 7:00 p.m.
at ECW610
Our first session of negotiations commenced on Tuesday, June 30, 2015. We met and went over ground rules. We are scheduled to meet on Thursday, July 30, 2015, for a four-and-a-half-hour session. We are prepared to present a few proposals and are equally prepared to discuss each one with management. We plan on starting with the Preamble and working our way through the all the contractual concerns that were mentioned through the survey process. We are glad to say that many of the Bargaining Team’s concerns mirror the contractual concerns that members indicated in the survey as our top priorities:
- Work Hours (Lunchtime/Breaks)
- Tuition Reimbursement
- Longevity (Article IX)
- Career Development
- Time off for Education
- Increase paid time off to 100 days
- Shift Change Language
- Evaluation
- Increase Retirement Benefit
- Language for Personal Necessity
