Lake Hemet Municipal Water District members voted 86% to ratify a five year contract with LHMWD management, Thursday, June 28, 2012.

During a celebratory press conference, SEIU 721 President Bob Schoonover praised the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act, saying, "Today the Supreme Court made the right call. The justices rejected the selfish position of coroporations and the 1 percent that says we should all be on our own and suffer and struggle when we get sick.This is a resounding victory for working people."

Mike Booth, water operator and SEIU 721 chief negotiator for the Lake Hemet Municipal Water District bargaining team, presented petitions signed by 100% of the unit to the LHMWD Board on Thursday, June 21, 2012.

During the past two bargaining sessions with Lake Hemet Municipal Water District management and the SEIU 721 team, there have been positive progress made with some tentative agreements reached, counter proposals exchanged and contract language clarified, however several major economic proposals still need to be negotiated.

This weekend SEIU 721 Riverside County leadership sent a letter to the Board of Supervisors in response to two items on the Tuesday, June 5, agenda which would result in increases in pay and benefits for elected officials and upper management, outside of compaction issues. This is an outrageous proposal made either for completely political antics prior to election day or lack of good judgement by management during a time of layoffs, furloughs, and pay cuts to front line workers who provide essential public services.