Announcing the United Public Employees Scholarship
The UPE Board of Directors is proud to announce the 2nd Annual United Public Employees Scholarship competition. Open to UPE members’ families, the program offers four $1500 scholarships to help with college expenses.
The scholarships are a first of their kind for UPE and are a part of the Union’s renewed efforts to give back to our members. As a wholly independent union, UPE is now able to reinvest all member dues back into its members whether in the form of representation, negotiations, or member appreciation programs such as the Scholarship.
Rick Reeve (005) a member of the Board of Directors said he was “proud UPE is offering these scholarships to deserving students.” He continued, “We recognize the personal and financial challenges our members and their families go through every day. I am excited that these scholarships are being made available in our first year as a member-run independent union. You have entrusted us to fight for your rights and we are investing in you or your family members, who one day, will continue the fight for employee rights and wages."
Applications must be postmarked by July 3, 2018 and winners will be notified in July. As a part of the application, those applying must complete a 500 word essay; include THREE letters of reference; and transcripts.
Winners will be announced in July 2018.
2018 UPE Scholarship Application
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Bargaining Update
005 Office-Technical Unit
June 13, 2018
Your UPE team met with the County today and asked if the County had answers to the 18 proposals UPE had presented. For example, the County wants to net any overtime against any leave taken during the same week. Many employees depend on this overtime to supplement lower wages. The County had no proposals to increase their low-ball COLA offer which will further leave our members with low wages that do not keep pace with livable wages necessary to live in the Sacramento region.
We are currently evaluating Letters of Understanding and Addendums and will propose to continue them with the new contract. Your bargaining team has serious concerns on the County’s willingness to offer reasonable raises to our hard working members who are barely making ends meet.
The next 005 BAC meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 20th at 6:00 pm at the UPE headquarters. During the meeting we will have a better understanding about the possibility of a strike if the County continues to not value our members.
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Bargaining Update
008 Welfare Non-Supervisory
June 13, 2018
Greetings Union Sisters and Brothers. Your 008 Bargaining Team met with the County on June 13, 2018 for the 9th session of this negotiation cycle. Current proposals were discussed and your team gave the County new counter proposals on COLA’s (Cost of Living adjustments) and access to desk files. Nothing momentous occurred. But the stage is now set for two back-to-back days of negotiations which have been scheduled for June 26, 2018 and June 27, 2018.
The 008 contract expires on June 30, 2018 and a very important BAC (Bargaining Action Committee) meeting will be held on Tuesday June 19, 2018 at 6:00 pm at UPE, 9333 Tech Center Drive, Ste 300. Plans will be made, so ALL UPE 008 MEMBERS SHOULD ATTEND: GET READY! Wear your red shirt. If you do not have one, show up and get one!
TOGETHER WE ARE STRONGER!
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Negotiations Update
Court Professional
June 12, 2018
- Bargaining met with Court today for their 1st session.
- Agreed to ground rules and schedule of meetings through August 2018.
- Last day to submit new proposals August 14, 2018.
- Next meeting is June 26, 2018 at the Union at 9:30 am.
- Flyer will be distributed following each session. Stay tuned. Be updated.
In Solidarity
COURT PROFESSIONAL BARGAINING TEAM: Leava Ong, Marie Sims
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Negotiations Update
Court Office Technical
June 8, 2018
The Office Technical Board presented 10 proposals to the Court. The Court presented 2 proposals in return. The Court needed to caucus early to “digest the complexity” of our submitted proposals.
The Governor’s 2018-2019 budget was released today and the Office Technical Board is reviewing the budget.
The next negotiations meeting is June 22, 2018. Wear Red!
Yours in Solidarity,
COURT OFFICE TECHNICAL BARGAINING TEAM: Brooke Ryan, Jean Smart, Bonnie Loriga, Nancy Wallace, Geri Bradford-Hill, Tammi Boxer, Shawn Boxer, Stan Njugu, Suzette Cade, Andrea Howard, Paul McGee
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Bargaining Update
Office-Technical Unit 005
June 6, 2018
Today was our regularly scheduled negotiations session. We open with a TA to one of the County’s proposal on mileage reimbursement which aligns with the IRS requirements concerning when a reimbursements become taxable.
The County provided a vacant position list of our members that was requested in a prior negotiation session. The list contained 227 vacant positions across 21 departments. Three departments have the vast majority of the vacancies: Human Assistance with 54, Child Support Services with 33, Department of Health Services with 22. Some of the oldest vacancy dates were from May of 2007 were at the Department of Family Services & Child Support Services. After reviewing this report, your negotiations team sternly asked the County why they haven’t been filled! 106 are 2018 (current vacancies) and the remainder have not been back filled.
We also countered the County’s original salary increases with a positive change to the CPI index & a COLA range of 2% to 5%. Two more rounds of counter proposals to salary increases ending with the County suggesting flat increases which would effectively remove the COLA language from our contract your negotiating team was outraged at the County’s proposal with nothing else to bring to the table we ended by sending the County home.
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Bargaining Update
Office-Technical Unit 005
June 4, 2018
County called for a special negotiation session today. During this meeting, we presented a counter proposal to the transit pass that would maintain the subsidy at 75% of the monthly cost of the pass. We also made a counter proposal to the equity adjustments giving movement in the County’s favor.
The County flatly stated they were not interested in equity raises. They feel the proposed COLA’s are sufficient to keep our pay in the average pay range of the 10 surrounding Counties. Our May 16th meeting was the last meeting we had any movement on any proposals. Currently we have 12 proposals that are on hold waiting for the County to respond. Even though the County called for this special negotiation session – they brought nothing additional to the table.
The County’s attitude and our forward progress in negotiations concerns this Board again – the County made it clear they are not concerned with the welfare of their lowest paid employees. Their actions indicates they are happy competing in the minimum wage market which includes the “just out of high school and 1st time job” market. They are sending a clear message that our skills are being undervalued and they have no problem replacing us. All and all, it doesn’t seem like the County is at all interested in negotiating with members best interest in mind.
*Special Note: The previous scheduled BAC meeting for June 6, 2018 has been cancelled and will be rescheduled for a different date.
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Bargaining Update
008 Welfare Non-Supervisory
May 23, 2018
Greetings, Union Sisters and Brothers.
Your 008 Bargaining Team met with the County on May 23, 2018 for the 8th session of this negotiation cycle. Your team took up where we left off two weeks ago, explaining to County management that hundreds of our members work in classifications, programs or functions requiring enhanced skill sets for which they are not compensated. Eventually we stopped talking and told the County that it is ridiculous for the union to have to put on a “Dog and Pony Show” to explain to County managers about the hard, demanding jobs of the people who work for them, while the managers sit there pretending they don’t know there’s a problem. The County team left the room, but when they came back they put a little more money on the table: a slightly improved County proposal on COLAs (Cost Of Living Adjustments). There are only three negotiation days scheduled before the contract expires 6 weeks from now. We all need to talk about what we are willing to do to make the Board of Supervisors understand that they must pay their workers a fair wage for the incredibly difficult work they do. An 008 Bargaining Action Committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 19, 2018 at 6:00pm at the UPE office at 9333 Tech Center Drive #300. Plans will be made. You need to be there. Wear your red shirts.
TOGETHER WE ARE STRONG!
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Negotiations Update
Court Office-Technical Unit
May 18, 2018
Today we met with the Court’s team and were introduced to the Court’s new Chief Negotiator: Adel Nadji, from the Judicial Council. Mr. Nadji stated that he is contracted on behalf of the Sacramento Superior Court, not Judicial Council.
We formalized the ground rules and agreed to bargaining dates through August.
We look forward to negotiating a fair and equitable contract that rewards our members for their continued hard work and sacrifice.
It is our honor to represent you.
COURT OFFICE TECHNICAL BARGAINING TEAM: Brooke Ryan, Jean Smart, Bonnie Loriga, Nancy Wallace, Geri Bradford-Hill, Tammi Boxer, Shawn Boxer, Stan Njugu, Suzette Cade, Andrea Howard, Paul McGee
UPE Joins Forces with the Sacramento Central Labor Council
UPE is very excited to announce our partnership with the Sacramento Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO (SCLC). Learn More
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Wednesday, June 6 - 005 Office Technical Unit meeting 6:00 pm @ UPE
Tuesday, June 12 - 008 Welfare Non-Supervisory Unit meeting 6:00 pm @ UPE
Tuesday, June 12 - Merced County Unit 3 Board Meeting 5:30 pm at 2222 M Street, Merced, CA 95340
Tuesday, June 12 - Court Professionals Unit meeting 12:00 pm @ FRC
Thursday, June 14 - Court Office Technical Unit Meeting 6:00 pm @ UPE
Thursday, June 21 - Stewards Training 6:00pm @ UPE
Tuesday, June 26 - UPE Board of Directors meeting 6:00 pm @ UPE
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