On Monday, June 1st, CAPE-member volunteers representing several professional-employee job classification series will present their best arguments to LA County Management representatives for fixing salary inequities and various operational problems in their ranks.
Some CAPE-represented employee groups are experiencing serious recruitment/retention problems. The staffing issues are often the result of below-market salaries, a lack of commitment by Departmental managers to fill vacant positions, and, in the case of DPW, overreliance by managers on private-contract employees to fill the gaps. Other CAPE groups have internal pay inequities or operational problems they are seeking to resolve.
At the first official negotiating session on May 11th, the CAPE Negotiating Teams and Management representatives got acquainted, reached agreement on ground rules for the negotiations, and determined a process for identifying the various “no change” articles of the MOUs for each of the CAPE Bargaining Units. The CAPE Teams also thoroughly reviewed the union’s initial proposals with management and answered clarifying questions for them.
CAPE is determined to achieve a fair across-the-board COLA increase package during these negotiations, one that will restore the purchasing power CAPE members lost during the Great Recession. Other major goals of our union include reducing management’s use of contract employees to perform work that should be performed by CAPE members, gaining more influence over proposed changes to CAPE members’ work schedules, improving special pay practices, and expanding training opportunities for CAPE-represented employees.
The members’ salary inequity and operational issues presentations on June 1st are expected to last the entire day. The date of the next negotiations session will be determined on June 1st. For general information regarding the contract negotiations, or to view the CAPE Negotiating Team roster, please click here.