San Jose’s Illegal Measure B

$650M San Jose Pension Projection "Unsupported"

The State Auditor released an evaluation today (August 21, 2012) reporting that San Jose leaders embellished future employee pension costs.

In March of this year, on a bipartisan vote, the members of the state Joint Legislative Audit Committee approved a requested state audit of the city of San Jose’s pension obligations.  The audit looked into the $650 million pension cost figure the Mayor and City Manager used to build voter support for pension reform and Measure B. 

“The mayor's political strategy of over-inflating costs proved to be the largest barrier in negotiating legal pension reform with San Jose's employees," said John Mukhar, president of Local 21’s AEA.

See the 47-page audit. Also, read the NBC Bay Area and Mercury News articles covering the report.  The audit request was submitted by a coalition of legislators – Assemblymembers Jim Beall, Luis Alejo, Paul Fong, Rich Gordon, Bob Wieckowski, and Sens. Elaine Alquist, Ellen Corbett.

San Jose Pension Litigation Begins

Following the passage of San Jose’s Measure B, a City ballot measure that unlawfully modifies pension benefits for city employees, Local 21’s AEA, AMSP and CAMP chapters joined San Jose’s Police Officers and Firefighters in filing multiple lawsuits to enjoin the City from implementing the unlawful changes to employee pensions, health care, and disability benefits.

The City filed a declaratory relief action in United States District Court June 5, before that day’s election results were even tallied. One Local 21 chapter was named as a defendant, along with several other labor organizations. The lawsuit asks the federal judge to declare Measure B constitutional.
On June 26, attorneys for Local 21 and San Jose Firefighters Local 230 filed a motion to dismiss the federal court action on several grounds, essentially arguing that the State Court actions will resolve all of the legal issues, and the validity and application of Measure B should be determined in Superior Court. The motion points out that the City's lawsuit is not required to be heard by the federal judge. A hearing on the motion is set for October 4, 2012. 

Local 21 Files Suit Against Measure B

IFPTE Local 21 members and retirees have filed our legal challenge to Measure B. We have stated all along that Measure B is unconstitutional, unlawful and a breach of vested contractual rights. View the lawsuit.

Measure B Lawsuits, Election Update

On June 6, our coalition partners made good on our collective promise to fight the unlawful Measure B in the courts.  Local 21 will be filing our legal challenge shortly but it will mirror both of the lawsuits filed June 6 by the police and fire unions.  The City stipulated that they will not implement Measure B until further notice from the state court.  Read the police and fire suits.

In the City Council races, Local 21 was successful in supporting Kansen Chu and Ash Kalra who were both re-elected.  In District 10, there are three candidates bunched at the top and with around 40,000 to 45,000 votes still to be counted the results could change.  Local 21 and our coalition partners have deployed vote count observers to the registrar of voters to ensure the vote count is conducted per the law.  

In District 8, we achieved a major victory in that we worked with many others to force a runoff.  This is an extremely rare event and is a clear indication that the voters in District 8 want a council member they can trust and is ethical and keeps their word.

Local 21 will be evaluating our next steps with regard to the November runoff election and legal strategy moving forward and will be conducting a general membership meeting shortly.  See a sampling of the news coverage from June 6.

San Jose's Measure B Litigation Begins

Following the passage of San Jose’s Measure B, a City ballot measure that unlawfully modifies pension benefits for city employees, San Jose’s Police Officers, Fire Fighters and other workers are filing multiple lawsuits to enjoin the City from implementing the unlawful changes to employee pensions, health care and disability benefits. A Press Conference will be held today to release the initial court filings. Read the Media Advisory.

For more on Measure B.