Shasta County General Unit Declares Impasse

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Largest UPEC Unit at Odds

The Shasta County General Unit Bargaining Team met with the County on May 28th and asked if the County would improve upon its last offer for a 26 month contract with a non-retroactive 1.5% increase the first year and 1% increase the second year.  This offer had previously been rejected by a membership vote.

The County representative stated that the County was absolutely not going to improve its offer, despite our previous rejection.

Therefore, the UPEC Bargaining Team declared that we have reached an impasse in negotiations.  Note:  Impasse is defined as a point in negotiations where additional meetings would be pointless as one side or the other has dug in their heels and will not budge.  The County is not budging from its 1.5%, 1.0% proposal so we are by definition at an impasse.

In conformance with County Impasse Rules (Resolution No. 97-154 on the Personnel Department web page) we are required to submit a written request for an impasse meeting along with a statement of our position on all issues that remain in dispute (Impasse Position). 

We have scheduled a membership meeting for Monday, June 9th at 5:30 pm in order to vote to confirm an Impasse Position.  A discussion of all open items wil be held before a final vote is taken.  In addition to voting on an impasse position, we will accept volunteers to form an Impasse Committee.  The Impasse Committee will be responsible for developing tactics to convince the County to increase its offer so that we can settle a reasonable contract.

Chief Negotiator Steve Allen has scheduled an Impasse Meeting with the County for June 12th at 9:30 am.  The purpose of the Impasse Meeting is to make one last effort to settle an agreement and, failing that, to agree to an impasse procedure.  The procedure typically used is mediation, which requires the State of California to appoint a mediator to come to Redding to meet with both sides to attempt to “mediate” by persuasion a settlement.  The schedule of mediation meetings is set by the mediator.  During mediation the Union can engage in pressure tactics developed by the Impasse Committee.

Stay tuned for updates as this dispute develops.