Riverside County Workers: One Step Closer to Reaching Agreement
On Jan. 31, about 8,000 members represented by LIUNA reached an agreement with Riverside County management for a 4-year contract.
On the same day, SEIU 721 Riverside County public service workers also moved one step closer toward reaching an agreement by demanding Riverside County settle a fair and equitable contract for our members.
After over 2,000 of our members stood up and addressed the Board of Supervisors to emphasize the need for all of us to work together, Chairman John Tavaglione committed himself to help bring both workers and management back to the negotiation table.
The SEIU 721 Bargaining Team is in the process of scheduling future meetings with county management.
I am eager to hear of some update. The county claims the sweetheart deal with LIUNA is saving them $60mill, although I don't know how that is mathematically possible. We have proposed $33 mill in savings, but they don't like it. If you add those together it is $93 mill/yr savings which is greater than the $80 mill gap they claim to have. With the DDA's deal costing $12.5mil/year and the management supp retirement costing $2.5mil/year, the county would only have to find another $2 mill in savings to close their claimed gap. I'm sure the BoS cars, gas money, and perks could easily save that if they were graciously declined. Let's be honest, those guys will just claim all items on taxes and take all of those loopholes. So, come on guys, what's the word?
Personally, I would be fine with getting the same contract that LIUNA employees received. YAY SEIU AND LIUNA employees for standing up for our rights !!