County Coalition of Union (CCU) representatives, led by CAPE Counsel Blaine Meek, continued talks this month with County officials aimed at securing a successor Fringe Benefits agreement to provide more than 40,000 County workers with sick days, vacation days, retirement contributions, the County's contribution to the Choices medical benefits, and the County's contributions to the Horizons deferred compensation program. The current Fringe Benefit agreement, which is negotiated with County officials separately from the Salary Contracts, expires next month on September 30, 2015.
Regular meetings between CCU and County officials started several months ago. CAPE and CCU leaders are looking for progress on several key items in this year's Fringe Benefit contract negotiations. Although several meetings have occurred, County administrators have not fully presented their proposals, nor have they fully responded to CCU demands. The lack of progress prior to the September 30th expiration date is a source of concern for our representatives. Some speculate that the County negotiators from CEO Employee Relations have a limited ability to function properly at numerous negotiations tables, and that progress on the Fringe Benefits Contract may start when the Salary Contract negotiations begin to wrap up for other bargaining units.
CAPE representatives at the negotiations table remain hopeful that a new Fringe Benefits contract agreement can be secured before the current contract expires on September 30.
"We're hoping this can be closed out satisfactorily for both sides before the end of September," said CAPE President Carlos Clayton. "It's vitally important that we protect employee benefits, and we won't be in a hurry to sign an agreement until we know we've properly protected CAPE members' interests this year."
CAPE will continue to keep members informed of the status of the Fringe Benefits Contract negotiations through email broadcasts and our field program.