S e r v i c e E m p l o y e e s I n t e r n a t i o n a l U n i o n

Local 521 News In and Around Kern County

September 2011

When the summer got sizzling hot, SEIU Local 521 members decided to help cool things off for the neediest members in our community.

Over a three-week period, members donated fans.

Between monetary and fan donations, 521 members were able to provide 89 fans, ranging from small personal fans to sit on a bedstand to box fans that cool a whole room.

Fans were distributed at the Jefferson Senior Center in Delano, the Bakersfield Homeless Center, the Bak-ersfield Rescue Mission, Silvercrest Manor and the Bakersfield Senior Center. Clients served by the Kern County Public Health Department also received fans.

A special thanks to 521 members Imelda Ceja Butciewicz of Public Health, JoAnn Hutton of Superior Court, Karen Snow and Robert Murillo of the City of Delano, and Donnie Carr of the Assessor’s Office, for col-lecting donations from co-workers.

521 members cool things off with fan drive!

521 takes the lead in guiding healthcare reform The members at Kern Medical Center are leading the way as SEIU and America prepare for the changes coming through healthcare reform! A team from KMC were the first nationwide to partici-pate in an online seminar about how the Affordable Care Act will affect hospitals and healthcare providers. They then took what they had learned and gave a class on it to nurses from around Kern County in Local 521 and Local 1000. It was the first training in the nation, and drew applause from the National Nurse Alliance. More trainings are already scheduled for September, October and November!

Pictured: (L to R): Local 1000 members LuAnne Codd, Cathy Reabold, Gloria Cadiz and Elizabeth Barnhart, and Local 521 members Carmen Morales and Sharon Ingram

"This training opened my eyes to aspects of the Affordable Care Act that I was not aware of. The general public must be made aware of how beneficial this program is."

LuAnne Codd Wasco State Prison nurse and SEIU 1000 member

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Robert Murillo, a leader of the fan drive in Delano, presents a fan to a man at the Delano Senior Center.

Many fans were donated to the Bakersfield Homeless Center.

2 The Voice

On March 31, 2011, Kern County proposed its "Modified Last, Best and Final" offer to SEIU 521. This offer was rejected by our members. Impasse was then declared in the negotiations for a new con-tract between SEIU 521 and Kern County. Under the Employer-Employee Relations Resolution, SEIU 521 requested a fact finder for recommendations regard-ing the issues on the table at the time the impasse was declared. The county’s demands are for the senior employees to contribute 20 percent of the cost of healthcare pre-miums, and for the county to shift the "employee" component of the retirement contribution to the work-ers. The real impact of these demands would be a major pay cut for the affected employees. All union proposals were rejected. On Monday, Sept. 12, your bargaining team met with the fact finder selected from the State Mediation Ser-vice and the county’s negotiators. This meeting was the final step in our 16-month-long bargaining with the county. Both sides presented arguments about the issues being disputed, and the fact finder will consider those arguments and make a report. Here are some of the things your bargaining team pointed out to the fact finder:

• The Kern County General Reserve Fund has $64 million, and the 2011-12 budget has new positions which are funded. The county doesn't need your money to prevent layoffs.

• The county ignored that many of us are paid for by state and federal funds, when they calculated the cost of benefits.

• SEIU 521 members made changes to our retire-ment contribution back in 2004. We are the only county union that has revamped retirement benefits for new employees. As the senior employees retire, the remaining employees will all contribute the full amount into retirement. The major issue here is that new employees are aware of the contribution when they hire on. The senior employees were hired in with an understanding, and they bought

houses, bought cars, and planned their futures based on a given pay rate. Now the Board of Su-pervisors is going back on its word.

• The contract has an article which assures that no change to retirement will be made unless agreed to by the members.

• If employees take over paying their retirement con-tribution and therefore have their wages reduced, it would reduce county revenue from the state and federal governments by an estimated $10 million.

Our team presented our final proposals. We pared down our 41 proposals to just a few:

• Release time for stewards when they are called on to assist with disciplinary actions.

• An advisory board to study and recommend stand-ards for caseloads at DHS.

• A consistent policy on employee breaks. • Maintenance of membership. • Binding arbitration in grievances, so that the Board

of Supervisors does not have the ability to reject the arbitrator’s decision.

• A temperature policy, so that workers aren't stuck in 80-degree-plus buildings.

• A cash incentive for opting out of medical benefits. We used contracts from other counties and clear and defined arguments to show the county that other em-ployees in the state have these fair working condi-tions. The county negotiator said the county was not willing to change the contract language to include these proposals. The fact finder will now take the 20 exhibits we pre-sented in support of our proposals and the county’s position into consideration. We expect the fact finder to render a decision in 30-60 days. Your bargaining team started out 16 months ago with 12 members. Members of the team experienced many health and personal issues. Some dropped out for a period of time and others were not able to re-turn. The final group consisted of Mike Marler from Parks; Wayne Caldwell from Roads; Carla Moreno, Alicia Rizo, and Doris Wood from DHS; Andrew Hammack and Roy Clark from KMC; Matt Hall from Planning and Dutch Kooren and myself from Mental Health. Join me in thanking them and Chuck Waide for their dedication to ensure fairness for the SEIU 521 employees of Kern County. Regina Kane, BSNRegina Kane, BSNRegina Kane, BSNRegina Kane, BSN Kern County Chapter President, SEIU Local 521

Regina Kane is the

elected president of the

Kern County chapter,

representing all

members employed by

Kern County.

Report from Kern County Chapter President Regina KaneReport from Kern County Chapter President Regina KaneReport from Kern County Chapter President Regina KaneReport from Kern County Chapter President Regina Kane

SEPTEMBER 2011 3

2012 is going to be a big election for labor and public sector workers. We need everyone’s help to win this year, if not, do you really want to end up like Wisconsin or Ohio. We were very successful in the Governor’s race against a candidate that had unlimited funds. We keep vigilant and ready for an election that will af-fect us and our jobs for years.

Brian O'Neill COPE Chair of SEIU 521

If workers think like that, we're going to lose on Election Day.

Politicians are thinking ahead to the next election – from the people running for the Republican nomina-tion for president, down to the county supervisor and city council candidates getting ready for their cam-paigns.

And the people who want to take rights and money away from workers are lining up their candidates and pooling their money.

The time for us to get involved is NOW, not later.

In all of our counties, at least two members of the board of supervisors will face re-election. If we have a good supervisor, how can we make sure he or she gets re-elected? If we have a bad supervisor, who will we run to replace him or her?

All Assembly seats are open, including the 16 in Local 521's territory. And the new "top-two" primary system means the primary election in June is more important than ever. The two highest vote-getters in the primary will move on the final election, regardless

of party, so we must ensure worker-friendly candi-dates win twice.

Plus, we have state Senate races. Races for judicial seats, which will determine whether moneyed inter-ests can buy justice. City council and school board races, which will control whether workers can get a fair shake and whether citizens and students get ef-fective services. Congressional races, which will de-termine whether Congress will act on the jobs crisis that will still face America in 2012.

The time to get involved is now. Help recruit candi-dates who will stand strong for all working people. Sign up to contribute to COPE, the working person's counter to the super PACs for the super-rich. And make sure to set some time aside next spring to come to candidate forums, help us pick our candi-dates, and then walk to help elect those candidates.

On Election Day, it doesn't matter how many dollars you have in your pocket. We all have one vote. And we can all use our feet to get more votes. Let's make sure we use both.

Businesses contribute six

times as much money to political

campaigns as unions.

Election Day is more than a year away. There will be plenty of time to think about politics later.

The Voice

September

2011

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Region 6 Vice President Ellen Rollins urges Rep. Mike Honda (D-San Jose) to create jobs and protect services during a town hall meeting in August. Members attended town hall meetings and rallies across the 521 region last month.

At town halls and rallies, members

tell Congress to create jobs

W ith state unemployment topping 12 per-cent, jobs took center stage for SEIU

members in August. At town hall meetings and rallies across the country, Local 521 members joined other com-munity organizations and demanded that Con-gress stop playing politics and start creating jobs. In our region, 521 members reached out to con-gressional representatives in San Jose, San Mateo, Salinas, Fresno and Visalia. Members in Tulare County — where unemploy-ment is 17 percent — went to Rep. Devin Nun-es’ office (R-Visalia). “We are here to tell Devin Nunes to get off his duff and get us some jobs by any way possible,” said Deana Worthington, a Tulare County worker who attended the rally.

In another part of the 521 region, Dolly Clemente, an IHSS worker, attended a town hall meeting with Rep. Mike Honda (D-San Jose). “This country is no longer able to fulfill its commitment to its citizens,” she said. “We need your support for working families to survive this recession and we need your support to revive the middle class.”

Dozens of Tulare County residents came to the office of Devin Nunes (R-Visalia) in August. They were greet-ed by Andrew House, Nun-es' senior policy advisor. Asked why the past decade of tax cuts hasn't resulted in job creation, House re-ferred to "the Obama tax cuts." Then he referred to President Obama as "your president."

Community members in Salinas urged Rep. Sam Farr (D-Carmel) to keep fighting for jobs.