Monterey County Contract Campaign Central

👉🏽MAY 29 BUDGET HEARING RSVP – CLICK HERE 👈🏼

Our bargaining team returned from the negotiation table on Wednesday with the County’s latest economic counterproposals.

Term: 3-year contract
County Wage Proposal: An overall 6% (2% for each year)
Longevity Pay: 

• 10 consecutive years of service, a 1.5% of the base wage.
• 15 consecutive years of service, a 2.5% of the base wage.
• 20 consecutive years of service, a 3.5% of their base wage.

Health Insurance:

The County responded to our health insurance proposal by suggesting a flat rate amount for all insurance plans. This means that if insurance rates increase in the future, we will be responsible for absorbing these additional costs.

The County’s counterproposals flat-out dismiss the root cause of short staffing and our inability to recruit and retain workers. Our proposals are reasonable, and these items are essential to stabilizing the vacancy crisis.

Board of Supervisors Budget Hearings – NOTE: May 29 Date Change

On Wednesday, May 29th the Monterey County Board of Supervisors will hold public budget hearings to pass their 2024-2025 annual budget. If we want to win a better economic package with affordable health insurance, we must fight for what we deserve.

Please note: our previous bargaining update noted May 30th as the date for our budget action. The date has been updated to Wednesday, May 29.

Your participation is crucial to the next stage of our campaign: we must overflow the Board of Supervisors Chambers, 168 West Alisal St., 1st Floor Salinas CA 93901 during the upcoming Budget Hearings meeting on May 29 at 9 am in full solidarity! The Board of Supervisors and our community need to see our collective strength and that we are ready to fight for a fair contract!

Click here to confirm you’ll join with our co-workers in attending the May 29 Budget Hearings.  

In solidarity,

Your SEIU 521 Monterey County Bargaining Committee

During this week’s negotiations session, our bargaining team presented the County with our final economic proposals, including health insurance for more than 3,000 county workers. 

While management acknowledged our effort to pass proposals proactively, the County did not present any counter proposals to us. Not only was this behavior unprofessional, the County signaled to us that our members’ priorities and challenges are not urgent as their own. In addition, the County stated they are rejecting our small economic proposals and focusing only on wages and health insurance.  

 Click this link to view the status of our current proposals. 

Our proposals clearly reflect the priorities of our members and contain proven long-term solutions similar counties used to secure safe staffing and a good economic package.  After three years of the County deliberately ignoring understaffing, workloads, and working conditions in virtually all departments, their lack of urgency continues to combine unreasonably high stress levels, unmanageable workloads, unrelenting turnover, and pay inequity as part of their employment package. 

The County is claiming a deficit, but our research, which reflects their public records, indicates that each year they underspend on community residents and patents, while sitting on a windfall revenue of $56 million.  If they have money to spend on funding a racetrack (“Laguna Seca”) then Monterey County can invest in our workers and the community, we serve daily. 

We Cannot Win a Strong Contract Alone 

Our coworkers are resolved in the understanding: the status quo is not working.  If you want to build the improvements we deserve, then join our collective fight now! On Wednesday, May 29 and Thursday, May 30 the Board of Supervisors will host budget hearings to discuss and approve the 2025 fiscal budget. We must all show up to demonstrate that we are everyone’s priority.   

Your participation will make the difference in securing a good contract.  

How can you take part? Take the morning of Thursday, May 30th off to join our coworkers at the Board of Supervisors budget hearing. This opportunity is ours to demonstrate to the Board that we are ready together for a fair contract we deserve! Follow this link to RSVP for the budget hearing on May 30.  

In solidarity,  

Your SEIU 521 Monterey County Bargaining Committee 

SEIU 521 Monterey County members are making a united, powerful stance against the County’s mounting vacancy crisis. We are advocating to reign in the 700+ vacancies, secure a living wage, manage reasonable workloads, ensure affordable healthcare, and guarantee fair treatment for all County workers.

On Monday, Behavioral Health workers posted up a united front with therapists, counselors, social workers, and administrative staff by holding a protest and press conference, unveiling a vacancy crisis report focused on the community-wide impacts of short staffing. The collective action took place ahead of the County’s grand opening of a new state-of-the-art $22 million health clinic.

Despite being aware of its inadequate staffing, the County proceeded with the project which starkly reflects the severity of the vacancy crisis and their plan to ignore the crippling impact of staffing levels on public services. Our press action was among several Safe Staffing for All! rallies across the County.

Explore our media coverage from our rallies on social media, vividly capturing the notable shift that’s driving our campaign. We encourage you to engage with the posts by liking, sharing, and commenting.

Instagram Facebook

Our powerful Safe Staffing for All! rallies crystallize the mounting pressure on management whose efforts to restrict and impede negotiations are failing. Despite access to over $50 million of profits (2023), management is challenging the resolve of our collective solidarity and, inversely, forcing the community’s support for public services and our campaign. Check out our campaign press coverage, showcasing the shift compelling the County to resort to desperate tactics, revealing their fear and struggles at the bargaining table:

Univision KION 546 FOX 32 KPFA  KSBW 8  Telemundo – Noticias Costa Central

Contract Bargaining Update

At yesterday’s bargaining session, our bargaining team provided the County with our economic proposal. We believe that our proposal is fair and just after years of our members rising up to do the work of 700 vacancies. Our goal is to give our health insurance proposal and pending proposals for unit K next Wednesday. Click here to download the list of proposals and status.

CAT (Contract Action Team) Recruitment

We need to make sure every worksite is organized, informed, and is building UNION POWER!  For every 10 workers we need a Contract Action Team member to make the impact we want for the improvements we are seeking to negotiate. We need you to become your worksite-CAT.  To sign up, email carolynne.roderick@seiu521.org.

All of our contract updates and alerts will continue to be updated on our contract campaign website here: https://www.seiu521.org/montereycounty

In solidarity, 

SEIU 521 Monterey County Bargaining & Contract Action Teams

During the pre-negotiations survey phase of our campaign, county coworkers clearly pointed to securing meaningful wage increases, affordable healthcare options, and improved working conditions.

Our biggest impact as workers is the high vacancy rate, interlaced with leaves of absences due to high stress, unmanageable workloads, unrelenting turnover, and pay inequity for the work we produce. We are concerned that in the last three years the vacancy rate has increased to 713 and the County’s response is sluggish at best. The County’s proposed budget suggests management is planning to eliminate an undisclosed number of the 700+ vacant positions in our bargaining unit. This approach attempts to hide the serious short staffing conditions impacting our coworkers, which is not only unacceptable but will deeply impact our community. The elimination of budgeted vacant positions suggests they are not planning to address the vacancy crisis we are facing in Monterey County.

Latest From the Table  

Last week, our bargaining team presented proposals for: Unit H, Unit J and some of Unit F. We will return to the table on May 1st and our intent is to present Unit K proposals, the remaining Unit F proposals and our Master Economic and Health Insurance proposals.

Click this link to view the status of our current proposals.

We want to be clear: All the leverage our bargaining committee retains at the table to pressure Management reflects you and your coworkers’ engagement.

The Time to Mobilize is Now! 

SEIU 521 members across the county are organizing worksite rallies! Our rallies start on Tuesday, April 23. Unite with your coworkers to show the County we are united and will not stay quiet!

• Tuesday, April 23 – Natividad Medical Center, 1441 Constitution Blvd., Salinas, CA 93901. Rolling rallies from 11 am – 1 pm (1st at 11:15 am, 2nd at 12:15pm).
• Thursday, April 25 – The Quad, 1000 S. Main St, Salinas, CA 93901. Rally at 12:00pm.
• Monday, April 29 – The “New” Behavioral Health Facility, 331 North Sanborn Road, Salinas, CA 93905. Rally at 12:00pm.
• Tuesday, April 30th – 730 La Guardia, 730 LaGuardia Road, Salinas, CA 93905. Rally at 12:00pm.

CLICK HERE TO RSVP TO AN UPCOMING RALLY

All of our updates continue to be uploaded onto our contract campaign website: https://www.seiu521.org/montereycounty

In solidarity,

Your SEIU 521 Monterey County Bargaining Committee

We held our second bargaining session with County management on Wednesday, March 27, 2024.

We continued our conversation regarding the County’s vacancy crisis. With 700+ vacancies, workload demands are simply unsustainable and places our community and all county workers at an increased risk for burnout, and exhaustion while compromising the quality of our shared public services.

County management in fact acknowledged that Workers’ Compensation claims have increased their liability, validating hundreds of Leave hours County workers recently filed just to keep their departments running. Our team pushed back hard and pointed to the increase in Workers‘Compensation claims being directly linked to the 700+ vacancies and increase in unsustainable workloads workers must endure.

• Our team requested the County’s cost savings of worker compensation packages (ex: salaries, health insurance) the County enjoys because they cannot or refuse to fill 700+ vacancies with good-paying, well benefitted union jobs.
• Our next bargaining session is scheduled for Friday April 5.

Our bargaining proposals are however progressing, including strengthening our language on:

• Compensation and Classification Studies
• Transfer rights which will allow workers to move to new locations
• Increasing worker accruals
• Making Winter Recess (ECO days) permanent benefits of our contract

OUR PLAN TO WIN INCLUDES YOU STEPPING UP –  OUR NEXT STEPS

Your continued engagement and support are instrumental in ensuring we build up our presence at the bargaining table through our strong collective voice. Our collective voice enables us to strive for better pay, benefits and working conditions for all Monterey County workers.

CATs (CONTRACT ACTION TEAM) RECRUITMENT

We need to make sure every worksite is organized, informed and building UNION POWER!

• For every 10 workers we need a Contract Action Team member to make the impact we want for the improvements we are seeking to negotiate.   We need you to become your worksite-CAT.
• To sign up, email carolynne.roderick@seiu521.org

HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR WORKSITE AND BARGAINING UPDATE MEETING

Attend the “How to Organize Your Worksite” AND Bargaining Update meeting on Wednesday, April 3 at 6pm via Zoom! 

• https://seiu521-org.zoom.us/j/92346654199
• Phone # 1(669) 900-9128
• Meeting ID: 923 4665 4199

All of our contract updates and alerts will continue to be updated on our contract campaign website here: https://www.seiu521.org/montereycounty