The contract that controls pay and working conditions for CAPE members expires on September 30, 2015, but preparations for this year's Salary Contract negotiations are already well underway. The demand letter to commence formal negotiations was sent to County officials in March, along with CAPE’s initial proposals for the negotiations.
CAPE members appointed to this year's bargaining team met during the month of February to develop their initial bargaining proposals. Those proposals were reviewed and revised by the teams in March before being submitted to L.A. County representatives late last month. The first face-to-face meetings between the CAPE Teams and County representatives could come as early May.
The CAPE bargaining teams are routinely the best prepared and among the most thorough of any County bargaining unit representatives. Preparations for this year's contract negotiations included a thorough review of the membership survey results, an assessment of county-wide issues, Unit-specific issues, cost-of-living and salary comparison data, and much, much more.
To properly address the Unit-specific issues, CAPE representatives host a salary inequity seminar each bargaining season to help CAPE members prepare and present their own proposals to County officials at the bargaining table. This year's salary inequity seminar was held on Thursday, March 19th with more than thirty members participating.
Several of the other County bargaining units had contracts expire early this year and are already in Salary Contract negotiations. The union representing the County's deputy sheriffs and district attorney investigators reports that they have already met twice with County officials and are continuing to meet. Their contract expired on January 30, 2015.
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| CAPE Team members work to develop their initial proposals for the upcoming contract negotiations during a proposal development session at CAPE on Saturday, February 21st. |