Butte College POA Contract Approved

Friday, October 26, 2007

Butte College Police Officers Association represents four Officers that staff the campus police department at the Butte-Glenn Community College District near Oroville.  The POA has been affiliated with UPEC for several years and was originallly represented by the California School Employees Association.

The Union has been bargaining off and on over several years with the College District to attempt to upgrade the Officers PERS saferty retirement.  We were unable to get this past a discussion stage but will be bringing in new actuarial numbers from PERS at the beginnning of 2008 to see if the costs come down enough to do a retirement upgrade on a “cost neutral” basis for the District, which is their condition for any consideration. 

PERS uses data two years old to construct the actuarial valuation study so we are anticipating the cost will go down solely because a very senior officer retired recently and if his prior service time is not part of the calculation the upgrade should cost less.  Like most items in labor relations, timing is important!

Prior to settlement, the Union filed two Unfair Practice Charges with PERB against the District for unilateral changes in working conditions.  One was settled in negotiations and one involving work schedules and CTO pay will go forward to PERB for a resolution.

Pay and medical insurance for Officers are tied to what the teacher’s union receives, a method that has worked well for the POA in the past as the District prioritizes in favor of teachers.  One particularly sticky issue this year, however, was that the District wanted the officers to each pay about $2,500 back to the District because the officers continued to receive a higher premium payment after other District employees including teachers reduced their contribution.  This issue became the key issue to settlement and was resolved in the Officers favor when the District agreed to waive repayment.

UPEC recognizes Police Officer Doug Sloan’s hard work as the head of the bargaining committee.  The Union is currently waiting a draft MOU to review so that the contract can be signed.