East Bay

Labor packed the Hayward City Council Chambers on July 8 to celebrate Sara Lamnin’s swearing-in as a new member of the city council.

Cheryl Penick, Local 21 Hayward Chapter President (left) chats with Lamnin at a late June luncheon to honor Local 21 Hayward members for their work around the June primary election.

Our members in Hayward are continuing their fight against pay and benefit cuts the City is insisting on in bargaining. In 2012 both our members and SEIU gave concessions totally 12% in take-home pay to avert layoffs. Now both Local 21 and SEIU have open contracts and the City is seeking a further 5% in cuts. Before our contract expired, the City declared impasse in SEIU negotiations in July which prompted a 3-day strike. Local 21 members came out in support of SEIU, but did not strike because our contract had not yet expired.

A new report by Beacon Economics, a leading independent economic research firm, conclusively demonstrates that, contrary to the City’s claims, Hayward is not facing a structural deficit.  The City’s original Ten-Year General Fund Plan relied on overly conservative assumptions to create an impression that the City has a major deficit which can only be addressed by seeking more concessions from civilian employees.  The Beacon report, however, identifies $43 million in additional revenues that were not included in the City’s original General Fund projections, including $31 million in property

On September 6^th the San Leandro Chapter approved a multi-year contract running from January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2015.  Under the terms of the new agreement members will now contribute 8% towards their pension which will be offset by a 10% wage increase over the three year term.  The City will also provide a 2.5% salary increase to four classifications at the Water Pollution Control Plant (Supervisor, Lead Operation, Operator I/II and Operator-in-Training) in order to bring their compensation packages closer in-line with the Bay Area labor market.  Moreover, the City has

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Local 21’s EBMUD chapter began negotiating a new contract last month, with the first meeting on February 5. Our current contract expires on April 28, and the District seems interested in completing the negotiation process before that date.

The District had four proposals, three of them concessionary. As in many agencies, they are asking for an additional employee pension contribution. They are also proposing the elimination of two holidays, and that the Union and District work collaboratively to address rising healthcare costs.