Fact-Finding regarding the long-running contract dispute between CAPE’s Technical Support Bargaining Unit members and Sanitation Districts’ management over the terms of a successor Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Unit’s employees occurred on Friday, April 17th.
There are two main sticking points: First, the Districts’ insistence on a salary reduction for all Unit employees to, in management’s words, “restore historical salary relationships among all bargaining units” since CAPE’s Unit succeeded preventing the salary cuts accepted by other Districts’ employees nearly three years ago, and Second, the Districts’ insistence on implementing a new Employee Contribution to CalPERS in July 2017.
Late last year, during a Mediation session, the CAPE Team proposed that instead of a salary reduction the Unit’s employees would forgo some future pay increases under the new COLA Formula, thus allowing the historical salary relationships to reset over time. The CAPE Team also made a new proposal for a shorter term contract, expiring June 30, 2017, so the parties could negotiate the Employee Contribution to CalPERS during the next round of negotiations. Unfortunately, Districts’ management wasn’t willing to budge even in the face of these reasonable proposals
During the Fact-Finding session, a neutral, third-party arbitrator (the Fact-Finder) reviewed each side’s contract proposals and all supporting documentation, and heard testimony from each side regarding their justifications. The Fact-Finder is expected to issue an advisory recommendation on the terms for a compromise settlement.
We will continue to keep CAPE members informed about the status of the Technical Support Unit’s contract negotiations with the Sanitation Districts.