EDCEA On Line - El Dorado County Employees' Association

2011 Paul Katz Scholarship [PDF]

RATIFICATION VOTE CANCELLED - April 26, 2011 Update
On Tuesday morning, April 26th, EDCEA received word that the County had pulled their agreement. We will meet again with the County to hear their issue and see if we still have an agreement. At this point, there is no agreement to vote on.

EDCEA PROPOSED CONTRACT JULY 2010 - JUNE 2013
April 12, 2011 Update
We have reached a tentative agreement with the County for a successor contract through June of 2013. We have held a series of noon meetings to explain the contract prior to the ratification vote. We will be available to answer questions at the election sites as well.

CHANGES IN THE CONTRACT
PENSION The main change in this contract is in pensions. The County has said that without concessions by the employee associations, the County will not be able to balance its budget for next year and that they need long term sustainable relief in the pension formulas. The County opened asking for about a 15% wage reduction through a shorter work week, reduction in employer pension pick up, elimination of the Tahoe differential and other savings such as elimination of Social Worker’s differential. After about nine months of negotiations we were able to agree on each employee paying 3% of the employee’s PERS (retirement) premium. Currently, the miscellaneous employees (everyone who is not a peace officer) portion of PERS is 7% and is paid by the County. This new agreement would split the payment with the County picking up 4% and the employee picking up 3%. In return, the County dropped its proposals for the other concessions.

The other changes in pension that are proposed only affect new employees hired after 7/1/11. The formula for new employee pensions would be changed from 2% at 55 to 2% at 60. This would mean that a new employee will have to stay with the County longer to maximize their pension. New employee’s pensions would be based on a three year average rather than on their single best year, current employees would remain with their single best year.

CTO Time The total amount of CTO time you may accumulate is raised from 160 to 200 hours starting July 1, 2011.

On Call Pay On call pay will be increased from $1.20 to $1.60 an hour, beginning on July 1, 2011.

Holiday Pay is again “time worked” for purposes of overtime.

Sick Leave Doctor’s note can be required after 3 days absence and with prior notice.

The DOT seasonal employee program and the IT leader differential have been eliminated.

There has been a change to the Social Worker III salary range. All SW III’s will receive a letter explaining the change.

There are some wording changes that do not substantially effect the substance of the MOU. All of the changes can be viewed at the top of this website at the link titled Proposed MOU – Tentative Agreement.

NEGOTIATIONS Session of January 14, 2011

Our Negotiations team met with the County twice this week, once on Tuesday and again on Friday, January 14th. On Tuesday, we presented the County with an updated proposal for a new MOU that deals with the County's desire for a change in how our pensions are funded. We also attempted to see how we might be compensated over the life of a three year contract. On Friday the County returned saying they might be willing to look at that. I am hesitant in giving details because the issues are very fluid right now. We know the County currently has an economic problem, but we don't know what the economy might look like in 2 or 3 years. We are trying to find some sort of mechanism that will address that.
If you have any questions or would like someone to visit your worksite to explain where we are in Negotiations, please call the Union office at 530-626-2565.

NEGOTIATIONS Session of December 16, 2010

Our Negotiations team met with the County briefly on December 16th. It has become clear that the County is most interested in talking about pension concessions. The County has not accepted our initial proposals and we are now meeting to see if we can find some common ground. Negotiations are continuing on some non-economic issues also and we seem to be making some progress there. Our next meeting is scheduled for January 11th.
If you have any questions on Negotiations, please call the Union Office at 626-2565. If you would like someone to come out to your office to talk about Negotiations at lunch or a break, please give us a call.

NEGOTIATIONS Session of November 29, 2010

Negotiations continue with the County. We offered a counter proposal on monetary issues that helps the County with its economic problems now and restores those monies at the end of the contract. We have several non-economic or non-universal issues such as sick leave and call back pay to discuss and we will be scheduling specific times to discuss each item. Our next meeting is scheduled for December 10th.
If you would like to have a lunch meeting at your worksite to discuss Negotiations, please call the Union office at 626-2565.

NEGOTIATIONS Session of November 29, 2010

Negotiations continue with the County. We offered a counter proposal on monetary issues that helps the County with its economic problems now and restores those monies at the end of the contract. We have several non-economic or non-universal issues such as sick leave and call back pay to discuss and we will be scheduling specific times to discuss each item. Our next meeting is scheduled for December 10th.
If you would like to have a lunch meeting at your worksite to discuss Negotiations, please call the Union office at 626-2565.

NEGOTIATIONS Session of November 16, 2010
The negotiation team met in a short session with the County on Tuesday. The first part of the meeting was spent going over Monday's budget meeting with the BOS, updating everyone on the Board's action in restoring some cuts proposed by the CAO to Senior Nutrition, Library, Elder Legal unit and GIS. The second portion of the meeting was spent going over a modified proposal from the County. This proposal did not differ substantially from their previous offer, but we took it as a sign that the County is interested in discussion on their proposals. The County has told us they need some concessions from us totaling about $1.2 million to avoid another round of layoffs in the spring. We are now preparing a counter proposal to present to the County, which we hope to have ready by our next session on November 29. If anyone is interested in having someone come to your work site to explain where we are, please call the Union office at 626-2565.

NEGOTIATIONS Session of October 27, 2010

EDCEA and the County met in Negotiations on Wednesday, October 27, 2010. This meeting was to discuss a specific item, the Protective Services differential. Both sides brought in people who were directly involved in Protective Services and there was a long discussion on the County's proposal. We will be bringing this item back for further discussion and to look at possible counter proposals.
Our next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 16th. Please contact our office if you have any questions, either by phone 626-2565 or you may also email us at edcea@peu1.org

NEGOTIATIONS Session of October 11, 2010
Your Negotiations team met briefly with the County on Monday, October 11th. All new proposals were due in by this meeting and we received the County's full proposal package. It differs little from what has already been reported. They are asking for about 1.2 million in concessions and have proposed some methods of reaching that number such as changing the amount you pay for your pension and a possible 36 hour work week. We are now going to meet on specific proposals going over them each in detail. We are starting with a discussion on protective service pay, which only affects certain classes, followed by looking at the pension proposal.
Our next meeting is October 27, 2010. If you have any questions, please call or email the Union office.
NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE 09-20-2010
Our Negotiation team met again with the County on Monday, September 20, 2010 for about 3 hours. The two sides have agreed to complete exchanging proposals by our next meeting, so we provided the County with several language changes we would like to see in the MOU. These included changes in probationary periods, sick leave usage, vacation hour donation and written reprimand appeals. We are still getting information on the County's proposal and plan to discuss the 36 hour work week within the next couple of meetings. We have not received a full proposal on this from the County, but did discuss some problems we saw in such a plan. We also discussed problems we saw in the County's use of call back and on call pay. We will be holding more detailed discussions on that in our meeting after next.
In the budget hearings being held that same day, the CAO presented to the Board of Supervisors that the County would need to lay off approximately 109 employees by next spring to balance the budget. The County is looking to get 2 million in concessions from the Employee Associations to lower that number to 89 employees. A series of hearings will be held in November to explore what that might look like for the County. We will attend these hearings and keep you up to date on what is going on there. Our next Negotiation session is scheduled for October 11, 2010.
If you would like more details or would like someone to come out to your worksite, please call the Union office at 626-2565.
NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE 09-10-2010
Your Negotiations team met today, Friday, September 10th with the County for a 3 hour session. There was some discussion on what can be done for new hires as far as retiree health is concerned. Both sides are looking at a way to provide some security for new hires when they retire.
We had discussions on all the proposals, trying to flesh out what each would look like. We are still in the information gathering stage of Negotiations. No decisions have been made on any proposals.
Both sides exchanged contract language. We are looking at improving sections of the contract where we have had problems in the past.
Each side has until October 11, 2010 to present new proposals, so we are preparing our final list to present to the County by that date. Our next scheduled meeting is September 20, 2010.
If you would like more details or would like someone to come out to your worksite, please call the Union office at 626-2565.

NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE

Your Negotiations team met with the County on Thursday, September 2, 2010 for the third time in this round of Negotiations. This meeting was basically to obtain information from the County. We had asked the County to provide us with their estimate of the savings each of their proposals would earn. They provided us with numbers, but some are in raw data form and will take a while to interpret. We also discussed some language issues within the contract, and are still in the discussion phase with these. We are scheduled to meet again with the County's Negotiation team on September 10, 2010.
If you have any questions on Negotiations, please call the Union office at 626-2565. If you would like someone to come to your worksite at lunch or during a break to talk to a group, please give us a call and we will schedule a time to meet.

Updated 09-03-2010

WHY VOTE?

You see the advertisements every election year where candidates running for elected positions spend lots of money trying to sway YOU, the voter, with promises and ideas for new and improved governing. Ask yourself, why? Why do they want to be elected? Why do they want to get your vote? Why is YOUR vote so very important? Your vote is very important you know... the reality is that the winning candidate may ultimately affect YOUR JOB by the choices that same candidate makes while in office. That candidate votes also...
We encourage everyone to VOTE. You may pick up a voter registration form at EDCEA's office or directly at El Dorado County's Elections Department. You may also register online at the Elections Department on the county's website. Please call our office should you have any questions.

4th ANNUAL EDCEA, LOCAL #1 PICNIC BBQ
EL DORADO COUNTY - ALL EMPLOYEES INVITED
"Good Old Fashioned Fun"

If you work for the County of El Dorado, then you are invited to the 4th Annual "Good Old Fashioned Fun" Picnic BBQ!! Tickets are still available. You may contact Picnic Co-Chair Walter Davies at 621-5420 or the Union Office at 626-2565. Your Board of Directors will again host this BBQ where $1.00 per person buys you tri-tip or chicken with all the fixings! Children 5 & under are free.

WHEN: Saturday, September 25th
WHERE: El Dorado County Fairgrounds
TIME: 10AM to 4PM - - FOOD SERVED Noon to 2PM
LIVE MUSIC - UNCOMMON GROUND * GAMES * RAFFLES

COME JOIN THE FUN!!

NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE

Our negotiation team continues to meet with the County on a new MOU. We are still in the preliminary stages, but the County has said that it needs some concessions from us to avoid layoffs. We have asked for a number that the County feels it needs from Local #1 units to avoid layoffs for our members and that tentative number seems to be around $1.2 million. The County has provided us with a list of ideas it has on how to reach that number, but it has said that the total for these ideas exceeds the $1.2 million, and that these are alternative ideas to reach that goal. The County listed the following ways they feel that number can be reached:

Setting a new retirement formula for new hires.
Current employees picking up 3% of their monthly retirement premium.
Reducing the Floating holidays
A 36 hour work week.
The County also listed ideas that would affect certain employees:

Ending the Tahoe Differential
Ending the Protective Services Differential.
We have asked to cost all of these items out to see what kind of savings they represent and will be getting those numbers at our next couple of sessions. We have not responded to the County offer and won't be until we see the numbers. We will be setting up meetings at your work sites to explain to what is going on and answer any questions. We will also be placing updates after each negotiations session here on our web site. The next session is scheduled for September 2nd.
Remember, the final choice on any contract is yours, and we will do all we can to keep you informed on where we are with negotiations.

Updated 08-10-2010

Monday, August 2, 2010 was the first meeting of Negotiations between EDCEA, Local #1 and El Dorado County. The County presented Local #1 with their proposals for the upcoming contract. This first meeting has set the tone of the upcoming meetings. We have our second meeting on Monday, August 9th where we will respond to their proposals. EDCEA, Local #1 will be sharing this information with you, our membership, as we will be holding informational meetings. Please check back to our website and look for flyers in the next week or so that will give locations and times. Now is a time when all membership will be called on to stand together during this current economy.
Updated 08-03-10

EDCEA, Local #1 Members Unite!!