UPEC792 Web Log

Employee Rights/Steward Trainings Announced

2012-02-03T18:51:01Z

Redding HQ - UPEC Has scheduled member orientations and training for the first half of the year. A member orientation is scheduled in the Glenn-Colusa Region for Thursday, February 16th. THe time and location in Willows is pending. Employees Rights/Steward Training is scheduled in Redding for Saturday, February 25th beginning at 8:30 am - 4;30 pm and a second training on Saturday, March 24th in Capitola at 8:30 am - 4:30 pm. These trainings cover Employee rights in the workplace, Memorandums of Understanding and Steward rights and duties. All members are invited to attend the trainings and orientations. Business Manager Chris Darker and Senior Labor Relations Rep. Steve Allen are the instructors for the course. Each member receives a certificate of training. Please contact Patti Wyatt at UPEC 530-245-1890 or 800-241-1890 or by email pwyatt@upec792.com.

Executive Board Appoints Two Board Members

2012-02-03T17:41:00Z

REDDING HQ - The UPEC Local 792 Executive Board Appointed two (2) new Board members to vacancies on the Board at their regular monthly meeting on January 21, 2012. Executive Board member for the Butte Region, Holly Pearson resigned in October 2011 when she accepted a job offer outside Butte County. Holly had served as the Butte Regional Representative from 2007 - 2011. Pearson is replaced by Robert Thomas who is the current President of the Butte PRofessional Employees Association in Butte County.
Executive Board member for Shasta Region, Ralph Winstead was no longer eligible to serve when the Coleman Fish hatchery members voted to decertify from UPEC in December 2011. Ralph served since 2007. Winstead was replaced by Teri Bono who is a steward for the SHasta County General Unit and delegate to the Five Counties Central Labor Council in Redding. Business Manager Chris Darker administered the oath of office. “This gets us back to having a full board with the exception of the Siskiyou Region” said Darker. Former Siskiyou DSA President Mike Karges resigned in July 2011.

UPEC Supports AB 1208

2012-02-01T00:30:00Z

REDDING HQ - Business Manager Chris Darker announced this morning that both Local 792 and Local 777 are supporting AB 1208 Calderon. This bill has to do with Superior Court funding. The Bill would delete the existing way the Judicial Council allocates funding for trial court operations, and would instead require that the amount allocated to each trial court from the amount appropriated for trial court operations be equal to the pro rata share of the prior fiscal year’s adjusted base budget. Existing law provides that the Judicial Council retains the ultimate responsibility to adopt a budget and allocate funding for the trial courts,and authorize a trial court to carry unexpended funds over from one fiscal year to the next. This Bill would delete those provisions and would instead provide that unexpended funds shall be the funds of that court, which may carry those funds over from one fiscal year to the next. This bill would prohibit those funds from being reallocated or redirected without the consent of the management of the trial court.
“This Bill will give our local trial courts local control and the ability to manage it’s own money without having to spend down their funds. We believe this will provide better stability for our members”, said Darker.

UPEC Case Updates

2012-01-31T07:06:00Z

Redding HQ - Members can go to the Business Managers Page for new case updates.

UPEC Files Representation Petitions

2012-01-31T06:54:00Z

REDDING - UPEC local 792 files two (2) Petitions with the Shasta Mosquito Control and Vector District last week. The Petitions cover the Technical Unit and Supervisory Unit. Employees contacted UPEC in November 2011 to discuss representation. The District Board recently prepared and passed Employer-Employee Relations Rules (EERR) that address employee-employer relations in November 2011. District employees have never before thought of forming a union but recent events prompted they organize.
UPEC Business Manager Chris Darker said, “We are happy to have the support of the employees at the Shasta Mosquito and Vector Control District”. Darker has begun preparing proposals for a first contract for both bargaining units.

Political Candidate Forum

2012-01-31T05:57:00Z

REDDING - The first of several Candidate Forums is scheduled for February 4, 2012. The Saturday event will begin at 10:00 am at the Redding Headquarters of UPEC Local 792. All members are encouraged to attend this event. Members of the Redding Joint Political Action Coordinating Committee (JPACC) will interview six (6) candidates for Assembly District 1, Senate District 1, Shasta COunty Board of Supervisors District 4. This event is open to members and their families.

Member Orientation

2012-01-31T05:54:00Z

REDDING - Member Orientation for those who have joined UPEC in the past twelve months is scheduled for Tuesday, January 31st at 5:30 pm at the UPEC Office 1800 Park Marina Drive. All members and non-members in UPEC represented bargaining units are encouraged to attend. The Orientation is approximately one hour. For more Information contact UPEC at 530-245-1890.

Shasta County Professional Bargaining Unit Meets

2012-01-26T17:00:00Z

We had discussion on the negotiation surveys that were sent out. If you are interested in being on the negotiation team and have not received negotiation training please plan on attending the next negotiation training session (TBA). It is required that you attend training prior to being placed on the negotiation team.

There will be an orientation meeting set for January 31, 2012 at 5:30 PM at the Union office to learn what the Union does for the employees that we represent. This meeting is open to any employee of any organization that is represented by UPEC. Please RSVP at 245 1890 if you plan on attending.

Our next member meeting for the Professional Unit is set for Thursday February 16, 2012 starting at 5:30 PM so that Business Manager Chris Darker and Senior Labor Representative Steve Allen can attend.

Shasta County General Unit Meeting

2012-01-25T20:31:00Z

We had discussion on the negotiation surveys that were returned and some members expressed an interest in attending the next negotiation training session. It is required that you attend a training prior to being placed on the negotiation team.

There will be an orientation meeting set for January 31, 2012 at 5:30 PM at the Union office to learn what the Union does for the employees that we represent. This meeting is open to any employee, of any organization, that is represented by UPEC. Please RSVP at 245 1890 if you plan on attending.

Our next General Unit member meeting is set for Wednesday February 15, 2012 starting at 5:30 PM so that Business Manager Chris Darker and Senior Labor Representative Steve Allen can attend.

Judge blocks California budget cut to hospitals for Medi-Cal

2011-12-31T20:05:00Z

SACRAMENTO - A federal judge has blocked a California state budget cut that would have affected rural patients, the latest indication that courts will have the last word on Medi-Cal reductions.

Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers cut reimbursement rates to a variety of Medi-Cal providers by 10 percent to save $623 million in their June budget. Physicians, pharmacists and hospitals, among others, have argued that the cut to California’s already low payment rates would discourage providers from accepting Medi-Cal patients and reduce access.

U.S. District Court Judge Christina Snyder issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday blocking the specific rate cut to nursing units within hospitals, many of which are located in rural California. Snyder determined that the California Hospital Association and other plaintiffs had a reasonable argument that the state had failed to appropriately review whether Medi-Cal patients would lose sufficient access to care.

The state Department of Health Care Services will ask the court to reverse the injunction and file an appeal with the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a spokeswoman said Friday in an e-mail.

Physicians and pharmacists have filed a separate suit asking the court to block the rate cut to their services. The court filings come after the Obama administration approved most of California’s Medi-Cal cuts in October.

In a separate case before the U.S. Supreme Court this fall, White House and California officials argued that groups such as the California Hospital Association should not be able to challenge cuts to Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program serving low-income children and people with disabilities. If the high court rules in favor of California, the state will have more leverage to cut Medi-Cal in the future, while health care advocates will have fewer ways to challenge budget reductions.

Capitol Alert Sacramento Bee

California High Court Says State Can Eliminate Redevelopment

2011-12-29T19:44:00Z

SACRAMENTO - In a significant budget win for Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday the state can eliminate the local agencies that subsidize construction in blighted areas.

The decision strengthens the state’s ability to take funds from redevelopment agencies for the current budget. It also provides leverage for state leaders to use more than $1 billion annually in redevelopment property tax dollars to balance future budgets.

The court called the elimination of redevelopment “a proper exercise of the legislative power vested in the Legislature by the state Constitution.”

But justices ruled invalid a second bill that would have reconstituted redevelopment agencies in a different form. That decision spells the agencies’ demise unless lawmakers pass a new redevelopment plan when they return next month.

Lawmakers counted on raising $1.7 billion from the two-bill package. The court’s ruling on the second measure may result in less money this year but more in future years from property taxes that would have otherwise gone to redevelopment.

“Today’s ruling by the California Supreme Court validates a key component of the state budget and guarantees more than a billion dollars of ongoing funding for schools and public safety,” Brown said in a statement this morning.

Chris McKenzie, executive director for the League of California Cities, said he was still reviewing the decision and would respond later today.

State leaders axed redevelopment agencies in June as they closed a deficit once projected at $26 billion. As part of the plan, cities could reorganize the agencies only if they agreed to use their money to pay for state obligations this fiscal year and make smaller contributions in future years.

Cities and redevelopment agencies sued the state in August to block the plan, saying it was akin to the state demanding a “ransom payment.” Critics in the Legislature said the state could ill afford to subsidize private developers, pointing to venues such as “Dive Bar,” a watering hole steps from the Capitol that features a mermaid tank.

The state’s high court agreed to fast-track the case. By issuing a decision today, the court gave state leaders guidance before Brown proposes his 2012-13 budget in less than two weeks.

Capitol News Alert/Sacramento Bee

Federal Shutdown Update

2011-12-16T20:25:00Z

WASHINGTON D.C. - Congress is expected to pass the omnibus appropriations act funding the remaining spending bills today in time to avoid a government shutdown at midnight. Some highlights: DOD and IHS is looking at a funding increase along with the Army Corps of Engineers and VA. National Park Service may get cut.

There are no bad federal employee provisions in the bill (i.e. no extended pay freeze, no increase in pension contributions, cuts to federal workforce etc.

Shasta County Professional Unit Meets

2011-12-07T16:38:00Z

City Manager Threatens Union Officials

2011-12-07T07:44:00Z

MILPITAS - Milpitas City Council pulled City Manager Thomas Williams raise from the consent agenda tonight and ended the meeting without addressing his compensation at all. Williams walked up to union officials and used intimidation tactics clearly projecting retaliation against city employees in 2012 for standing up for what they believe in. Its unknown if this agenda item will reappear anytime soon.

UPEC Objects to City Manager Raise

2011-12-07T05:30:00Z

MILPITAS - Milpitas employees represented by UPEC Local 792 are outraged at their City Manager wanting raises in salary and benefits. Milpitas City Manager Thomas Williams wrote up his increases under the “Consent Calendar” item 27 for automatic approval at tonights City Council meeting. Milpitas employees have given up over 16% in salary and benefits to save the City budget, keep people employed and provide vital services to city residents. “This is exactly the kind of thing that reminds us of the City of Bell, California”, said UPEC Business Manager Chris Darker. “Top officials helping themselves at public money while stepping on those who are on the front lines”, Darker said. The City Manager wants protection from being terminated as an “at will” employee and wants only to be terminated for cause. This is bad public policy for leaders in such a position. Second, if Williams gets fired or the City Council wants to oust him or he gets tired of his City Manager job, Williams will get a years salary in a lump sum. Thats well over $200 thousand dollars maybe closer to $300K with benefits. Third, Williams wants lifetime medical benefits for he and his spouse paid by the local taxpayers. Fourth, a 2% Cost of Living RETRO-ACTIVE 2.5 years. This guy must think that City employees are asleep at the wheel. UPEC Representatives are standing up tonight for UPEC members and are demanding this item be pulled from the consent calendar.