Modoc Medical Approve Contract

Monday, October 29, 2007

Alturas - UPEC members at the Modoc Medical Center unanimously ratified their contract last Friday. 

Butte County Professionals Open Space is Online NOW!

Butte County Professional Employees, who turned out better than 20% of their membership during their recent “Open Space” session to discuss bargaining now have their “open space” dialogues published online for more discussion.  The Forums that carry on the discussions are now open in the “Forums” section of the website (at the very bottom).  In order to access these, members must have created an online account and our staff must authorize the new membership.

Topics of interest to the group (in no particular order) included Retirement Formula, AWS, Salary, Retiree Medical Contributions, EPMC, and other topics.  Of the twelve topics proposed through Open Space, there were varying degrees of interest in each, but members clearly benefitted from the discussions and felt the process to be highly successful in establishing the beginnings of bargaining items.

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. 

Local 792 Business Manager Honored

Thursday, October 25, 2007

The Laborers International Union of North America held its Leadership Conferences in Chicago, Illinois September 19-24th. LIUNA Leadership met with over 800 Business Managers and Secretary-Treasurers from (LIUNA) to hear from the Democratic Candidates for President of the United States and to conduct business and training. The Public Employee Department International Conference of Public, Healthcare and Federal Sector Local Unions and District Councils presented Regional Service Awards to local leaders and members. UPEC Local 792 Business Manager Chris Darker received the Award of Recognition for the Pacific Southwest Region which includes 17 local Union’s that have Public, Healthcare and Federal sector member’s in the State of California and Hawaii. Public Employee Department Director Robert Purcell presented the award to Darker for his service and dedication to his local Union and to the ideals of the Laborer’s International Union. In addition to representing the members of Local 792, Darker serves on the LIUNA Public Employee Department Coordinating Committee. Darker was also the recipient of the Regional Award in 2003. 

John Edwards’ Plan for Health Care Reform

Redding - Redding One Corps and the John Edwards for President Campaign will host an informational meeting on Wednesday, November 14, 2007 beginning at 7:00pm at the UPEC Training Center, 1860 Park Marina Drive. Redding One Corps volunteers have organized this event and invite all interested community members to attend this free event. For additional information call 530-241-1045 or 530-524-4883. To read John Edwards’ plan for health care reform, visit http://www.JohnEdwards.com. 

UPEC Supports SRMC Grant

Redding - Shasta Regional Medical Center is applying for a training grant through the State of California. The training grant would provide courses in Business Skills, Commercial Skills, and Computer and Advanced Technology Skills as they relate to the medical field. As employees complete the training, the hospital would be reimbursed by the State grant fund. Both SRMC and UPEC feel very strongly about wanting to provide employees with as much educational opportunities as possible. Business Manager Chris Darker wrote a letter of support to the State Employment Training Panel in Sacramento and offered the UPEC training center as an additional education site. It is not yet known when the program would be implemented if approved by the State.