Monterey County Contract Campaign Central
Welcome to the official contract update webpage for the 2024 SEIU Local 521 Monterey County contract campaign. The campaign central page includes negotiation updates, workplace and action alerts, resources, and member features. Stay tuned for updates. Prepare yourself and your co-workers for 2024 by signing up for union alerts. CLICK HERE to ensure your contact information is updated today.
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Monterey County Union Contract Expiration – June 30, 2024
Winning the Best Contract Starts With Getting Involved Now
- Activate your membership today by clicking here. Our strength lies in our numbers, and all the gains weโve won over the years were possible through our collective strength.
- Stay in the know by ensuring you are receiving updates from your union. Access to communication is critical. If you are not receiving our union’s text and email alerts, update your contact information or sign up today.
- Become a CAT by joining the Contract Action Team – CAT’s are essential to ensuring our county co-workers have the latest updates. This group of members is also responsible for planning and executing workplace actions. Sign up to become a CAT here.
Key Budget Insights Analysis
Contract Bargaining Principles
Hundreds of our co-workers took part in our pre-negotiations survey, and one thing is clear – the County’s inability to retain and recruit workers is contributing directly to the short-staffing crisis. If we’re going to meet the growing needs of Monterey County residents, we need wages that keep up with inflation, affordable healthcare options, and improved working conditions.
Negotiations Updates
Our first bargaining session with the County is set for Wednesday, March 13. ๐Purple up every Tuesday in solidarity with our bargaining committee.๐
Check back for negotiation updates here.
April 19 Bargaining Update
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 Countyโs response is sluggish at best. The Countyโs 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 Tableย ย
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 coworkersโ engagement.
The Time to Mobilize is Now!ย
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 โ The โNewโ Behavioral Health Facility, 331 North Sanborn Road, Salinas, CA 93905. Rally at 12:00pm.
- Tuesday, April 30thโฏ– 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
March 29 Bargaining Update
We held our second bargaining session with County managementย on Wednesday, March 27, 2024.
We continued our conversation regarding the Countyโs vacancy crisis. With 700+ vacancies, workload demands are simply unsustainable and places our community and all county workers at an increasedย risk for burnout, and exhaustion while compromising the quality of our shared public services.
County management in fact acknowledged that Workersโ 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 WorkersโCompensation claims being directly linked to the 700+ vacancies and increase in unsustainable workloads workers must endure.
- Our team requested the Countyโs 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 scheduledย 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 – ย 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 betterย 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.โฏโฏ 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 โHow to Organize Your Worksiteโ AND Bargaining Update meeting on Wednesday, April 3 at 6pm via Zoom!โฏ
- 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
March 13 – Update:
Contract Bargaining Survey
Now is the time for everyone to participate in the bargaining survey process. Our elected Monterey County bargaining committee, comprised of co-workers across all bargaining units, will use the results to develop our bargaining priorities and contract proposals.
Worksite Meeting Sign-up
We all agree county workers need more staffing, not a mass exodus, and not continued bandaids. Join your Monterey County co-workers who are already organizing workplace meetings. Are you interested in hosting or attending a member meeting at your workplace? Fill out the online interest form below or click here to get started.
Upcoming Events
SAFE STAFFING FOR ALL RALLIES!
Join us to be a part of our “Safe Staffing For All!” rallies over the next two weeks. Let’s stand together and bring about meaningful change for our community and end Monterey County’s staffing and vacancy crisis!
Sign up here:
Week of April 22
- Tuesday, April 23, NMC, 1441 Constitution Boulevard, Salinas, CA 93901 – 11AM – 1PM
- Thursday, April 25: The Quad, 1000 South Main Street, Salinas, CA 93901 – 12 PM
Week of April 29
- Monday, April 29: Behavioral Health, 331 North Sanborn Road, Salinas, CA 93901 – 12PM – 1PM
- Tuesday, April 30: LaGuardia – 730 LaGuardia, Salinas, CA 93905 – 12PM