Riverside County supervisors Tuesday postponed a decision on whether to unilaterally impose terms of a collective bargaining agreement opposed by Service Employees International Union, Local 721, whose representatives argued that the county’s last, best and final offer was unfair, while the county’s fact-finder countered that the terms were fiscally prudent.
“We are seeking a reduction in the rate of increases,” said attorney Ed Zappia, who was retained by the Department of Human Resources to represent the county’s side in negotiations with Local 721. “There is a significant amount of money at issue. There is also a significant amount of savings.”
Zappia told the board that the terms offered by the county would ensure employees are “fairly paid and compensated.” He noted the composite value of the three-year contract sought by the union would be $1.5 billion — a major cost drain.
Zappia emphasized that the county made concessions during the 40-odd bargaining sessions that took place between the fall of 2016 and last August. According to the attorney, the roughly 7,000 SEIU members — including clerks, accountants, nurses, technicians and social workers — received 7-8 percent straight salary increases every year of the last four-year collective bargaining agreement, which expired in November 2016.
According to Zappia, members received, on average, “a staggering 43 percent to 49 percent increases in compensation” over the four-year span.
He also pointed out that the average SEIU member’s “compensation, benefits and perks” presently amount to over $106,000 per year, and that many in the senior salary grades are receiving pay and benefits that are “18.32 percent higher than (public employees) in the five surrounding counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura.”
Under the last, best and final offer presented by the county, yearly raises would still be available, but would average about 2.71 percent per worker, rather than the 7-8 percent received under the prior agreement.
Art Pulasky with the California Labor Federation said the county’s dealings with Local 721 had spawned 34 unfair labor practices allegations to the California Public Employee Relations Board, and that workers were not the ones putting up “roadblocks.”
“You need a contract that’s fair to them and shows you appreciate them,” Pulasky said.
SEIU negotiator Ryan Hudson contended the county’s team had engaged in “attacks on rank-and-file workers” and had created a “hostile” work environment for SEIU members generally, though he didn’t specify how.
Hudson urged the board to “get your house in order” before making a final decision on an agreement.
Several dozen purple-shirted SEIU members attended the board meeting and ,after the presentations had concluded, one of them shouted from the spectator gallery, “We have a petition for you!” The papers were handed to the clerk of the board.
The union has blasted the county for securing a $41 million contract with Netherlands-based professional services firm KPMG, which was hired to find ways of improving efficiencies and lowering costs throughout county government.
“The allocation to the KPMG contract is yet another example of wasteful spending and a lack of transparency and accountability to the public,” according to an SEIU statement that says that in the two years since the KPMG contract was cinched, “the county has not reported any cost savings.”
According to SEIU officials, the money that went for the KPMG audit and operational planning could have been dedicated to resizing salaries and benefits.
The union further disagreed with some of the metrics county Executive Office officials have employed to determine the totality of the reserve pool, as well as the comparable compensation structures in place elsewhere in the state.
According to the union, the county should discontinue the practice of holding reserves at 25 percent of discretionary revenue and lower them instead to 17 percent, freeing up millions. The reserve pool is projected to end the current fiscal year at roughly $200 million. Discretionary revenue is just under $800 million. The total size of the county budget is $5.45 billion, but the bulk of that is comprised of special funds, along with pass-through state and federal sums designated for specific purposes, uncontrolled by the board.
SEIU officials said the county should factor in government compensation formulas in Sacramento and Santa Clara counties, rather than rely strictly upon neighboring Southern California counties, to identity appropriate pay and benefits levels.
Tony Butka, appointed by the PERB to mediate negotiations, recommended that the county retroactively grant 2 percent across-the-board wage increases from Jan. 1 to June 30, and then another automatic 2 percent hike in the next fiscal year, along with a 1 percent bonus for county nurses, whom he said are difficult to recruit and have been using the county as a launchpad to career advancement elsewhere.
A unilateral imposition of the memorandum of understanding would not be a bar to further negotiations. The board declared an impasse with the Riverside Sheriffs’ Association last October and imposed a one-year contract after the 2,500-strong bargaining unit refused to accept the county’s terms.
According to county officials, a $200 million structural budget deficit, added expenses from the phased opening of the John J. Benoit Detention Center in Indio, outlays for the future office complex at the Riverside University Medical Center in Moreno Valley, escalating pension obligations and other costs leave little room for automatic pay and benefits hikes demanded by SEIU.