More than 1,700 CAPE Members Sign the Petition Demanding a Fair Pay Raise Agreement
CAPE Petition delivered to County Board of Supervisors Chairman Mark Ridley-Thomas
Underscoring the importance of this year's salary contract negotiations, on June 10th CAPE representatives presented LA County Board of Supervisors Chairman Mark Ridley-Thomas with petitions containing more than 1700 signatures of CAPE-represented employees. The CAPE Petition demands fair exchanges at the bargaining table and a contract agreement to start making up some of the ground lost in nearly 5 years without cost-of-living adjustments.
Face-to-face meetings between the CAPE Salary Contract Negotiations Team and County representatives started in early June. The first rounds of negotiations come after months of internal research and preparation by the CAPE team and staff. The talks are underway with the aim of securing a fair salary contract agreement prior to the current contract expiration of September 30, 2013.
The first bargaining session on Tuesday, June 11th included an exchange of proposed ground rules to govern this year’s negotiations, as well as an exchange of initial proposals for the Appraisers, Professional Engineers, and Engineering Technician units. CAPE Counsel Blaine Meek reviewed the proposals line by line, answering questions for the management representatives to clarify CAPE’s demands.
The set of initial proposals submitted by the CAPE Team cover a wide variety of wage and working condition issues, most prominent among them is our request for a fair pay increase package to make up for members’ lost purchasing power over several years of frozen wages.
Los Angeles County employees have not received a pay raise since 2009. CAPE President Carlos Clayton said that part of his team's goal this year is to remind County officials that CAPE members made sacrifices and worked harder and smarter to help the County survive the economic downturn. "Now that the County's finances are recovering, we want them to remember our contributions to making the County work, through good times and through bad times," Clayton said.
For up-to-the minute salary contract negotiations information, please add your personal email to our email distribution list by sending a message to [email protected], with "Negotiations Update" in the subject line.
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| CAPE representatives deliver the CAPE Petition for a Fair Pay Increase to Board of Supervisors Chairman Mark Ridley-Thomas on June 10th. Pictured l-r: CAPE Counsel Blaine Meek, CAPE VP Ken Roberts, County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, and CAPE Pres. Carlos Clayton. |