SJ Bargaining Bulletin 7 11 14

Bargaining Bulletin
V O L U M E
I S S U E
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J U L Y
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MEMBERS CONTINUE
TO DISCOVER ‘LOST EDGE’
INSIDE THIS
ISSUE:
More Views Needed for 1
‘Lost Edge’ Video
City Council Looks to
Botch Measure B ‘Fix”
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Retirement Board
Independence
2
Oliverio Pushes (again)
for Public Bargaining
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Volunteer Appreciation 3
Luncheon
New Leaders Training
July 23
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A show of hands at recent meetings indicates that some Members still have not seen our video
“Lost Edge.” Please support your coworkers who bravely told their touching personal stories
and who gave a voice to all Local 21 Members. John Mukhar, Mirabel Aguilar, Andre Morrow and Cindy Rebhan talk about City cutbacks and how services and employees have been
effected. But they also highlight workers’ dedication to San Jose.
Also, check out NewDirectionSJ.com, Local
21’s new website to post news, politics,
events and photos. Recently, we added
photos of our Volunteer Appreciation
Luncheon with Mayoral Candidate Dave
Cortese, data analysis from the June Primary,
and news on the U.S. Supreme Court case
affecting Unions.
Several SJ Issues Headed to Critical Mass
UPCOMING
DATES
SJ City Council District 7
Candidate Interviews
Tuesday July 15
12:30 p.m.
Local 21 Office,
4 N. Second Street,
Suite 430
L21 South Bay BBQ
Thursday July 17
11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Hellyer Park
Measure B, Retirement Board
Independence and Oliverio’s ‘Public
Bargaining’ Proposal will be decided
in next month
Measure B
As publicly reported, for the past few months
police, fire and City Manager Ed Shikada have
been holding negotiations around a potential
ballot measure to “fix” Measure B. The goal
was to reach agreement on a consensus ballot
measure for a Charter Amendment to be presented to the voters this November. A consensus ballot measure is necessary for the City to
avoid litigation over the proposed changes. In
other words, the City needs all City Unions to
agree in order to go forward with a ballot measure that will not be challenged in courts and/or
at the California Public Employment Relations
Board (PERB).
Instead of working with City Unions, the City
Council approved an alternate proposal that is
too little, too late. It does not address concerns over disability benefits or other issues raised by City Unions, especially issues related to the Tier 2 lower retirement for new hires. These two items are the
main reasons the City is experiencing high employee turnover and vacancy rates. Moreover,
the City's move does nothing to settle our
Measure B litigation (currently heading to an
See CITY COUNCIL, continued on Page 2
BARGAINING
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CITY COUNCIL, continued from Page 1
appeals court) or PERB charges. The City now has
obligation to meet and confer with affected unions.
Notice of the proposed ballot measure was sent to
all Bargaining Units, but to our knowledge, there
have not been any meet and confer meetings
around the latest proposal.
We believe the City has not provided adequate
time to fully negotiate over the matter, and our
position is the City should not proceed with this
ballot measure.
Retirement Governing Boards Independence
IFPTE Local 21
4 N. Second Street,
Suite 430
San Jose, CA 95113
Phone: 408-291-2200
Fax: 408-291-2203
ifpte21.org
Find us on
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/
ProTechEng
BULLETIN
In the last Bulletin, it was reported that the City
Council voted to continue working on a potential
ballot measure that would make certain changes to
the governance boards of the Federated City Employees Retirement System and the Police and Fire
Departments Retirement System. Specifically, the
Council authorized staff to continue reaching out
and meeting with City Unions and other stakeholders to develop a ballot measure to amend the City
Charter allowing for the proposed governance
changes. In the weeks before, the City held a series
of "stakeholder" meetings with all
City Unions to get feedback.
Separately, the City met with
CAMP and AFSCME to discuss
potential changes to the employment status of our Members
working at Retirement Services. After these meetings, the
City came back with a more narrow proposal which was approved at the Council’s June 17
session.
When compared to the original
Cortex Phase II recommendations, the City is now
proposing a modest set of changes to Board governance. Most significantly, the proposed changes
would make the Boards the "appointing authority"
over the Senior Staff of Retirement Services. Specifically, the CEO, the CIO and Attorneys would be
hired directly by the Boards. The CEO would then
be given power to hire and fire administrative staff,
but these would remain classified City employees,
represented by their respective bargaining units.
Therefore there would be no change in status and
compensation for these employees.
The new ballot proposal is still problematic in sev-
eral ways, however, most importantly because it
would allow the City to change or combine the
Federated and Sworn Retirement Board prescribed
by ordinance, i.e. by Council action. The goal is
to lessen the influence of politics on the
retirement funds. In addition, there are problems with several other aspects including how
Board stipends would be set. As with the Measure
B proposal, we do not believe there is adequate
time to meet and confer around this issue, and that
the City should not proceed to the ballot box at
this time.
‘Open Negotiations’ Proposal
At the Council’s last session they adopted a proposal advanced by Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio that would make all negotiations between the
City and Unions open to the public. Furthermore, it
would make all communications between the parties subject public record.
While the proposed language as written is problematic, we should be prepared to fully engage in the
meet and confer process to improve it. There may
be an opening to constructively shed light on the
process and prevent the City from misscharacterizing Union positions
and proposals. On the other
hand, the proposed language
could stifle and complicate collective bargaining, while keeping
discussions around ballot
measures behind closed doors
and Council deliberations in
closed session. We will engage
the City to see if they are in fact
willing to bargain in good faith
and consider modifications to
the proposal.
It is unclear how the City will be able to meet and
confer with all City Unions around these proposals.
The collapse of Measure B negotiations between Ed
Shikada and police and fire raise the specter that
the City will act unilaterally at its next meeting,
August 5, and place these proposals on the ballot
regardless. This would in essence be a repeat of the
run-up to Measure B, and would expose the City to
further litigation as well as more PERB charges.
Given the political instability and lack of leadership on the Council, anything is possible
and we should not be surprised if we see the
City act unilaterally and in bad faith again.
BARGAINING
BULLETIN
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Local 21 Volunteers Chat with Cortese, Receive Certificates and Gift Cards
Our Volunteer Thank You Luncheon was a success, with more than 20 Members from across
our seven South Bay chapters recognizing the
critical role they played in getting Supervisor Dave
Cortese into the November runoff for San Jose
Mayor.
Cortese thanked our Members, while adding the
importance of electing leaders who care about
employee dignity, but also the dignity of San Jose’s
1 million residents.
Our South Bay Members were also presented a
plaque for winning the Local 21 Fonebank Faceoff
in April, where Members from the South Bay,
Oakland and San Francisco called voters on behalf
of Cortese. The faceoff losers to the north have
already asked for a rematch in the fall.
Thank you to everyone who volunteered in the spring, and we hope to
see you AND more of you co-workers
in the fall campaign!!
All Members Invited
to New Leaders Training July 23
Who should attend:

New chapter officers

Any Members who might make
good Board members in the future

Veteran Leaders who want a refresher

Anyone who wants to learn
more about Local 21
The training is on Wednesday, July 23, from
noon to 1:30 p.m. in our office. Lunch provided.
Please RSVP to Michelle at mhatfield@
ifpte21.org or 408-291-2200.
Above: San Jose Mayor
Candidate Dave Cortese
thanks Local 21 volunteers
for their efforts.
Left: AEA President and
Local 21 Executive
Committee Vice President
John Mukhar accepts the
Fonebank Faceoff plaque
from Local 21 Political
Director Rachel
Richman.
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