The economy is hitting families and workers in Ventura hard. Given that SEIU members on the bargaining team for Ventura County are seeking a settlement that:
1. Promotes a shared sacrifice. That means to preserve services all employees must participate not just those at the bottom of the pay scale as county management is proposing.
2. Helps solve a temporary problem. The economy will recover, but we have to get through this time with as little damage to services and families as possible. We believe permanent cuts will permanently hurt employees and residents.
3. Protects families now.
Many of us are already living paycheck to paycheck. Slashing our current paychecks will have a long-term negative impact on the county.
On Wednesday, October 21, 2009 Ventura County management brought a third revised proposal to the SEIU 721 bargaining team. This proposal, titled “Pension Reform,” significantly reduces the cuts to paychecks compared to earlier proposals, but it permanently shifts retirement costs to workers.
You can see the impact of the proposed cuts on the “paycheck calculator.” (For accurate information, please have a current Ventura County paystub and the Excel program on the computer.)
Click here for the paycheck calculator
“SEIU Local 721 members have expressed a willingness to accept some concessions to resolve the projected budget shortfall and keep Ventura County strong, but not without SHARED sacrifice from Management. To date, the Board of Supervisors has taken no action impacting Management at all. Without shared sacrifice, there will be no contract settlement” said Ted Perez, Mental Health Associate and Bargaining Committee Member.
County management has said there will be a Board action in the next few weeks that will mandate the same 401k and retirement contribution cuts for all executive staff (including CEO), managers, supervisors, non-represented workers and the Board of Supervisors. However, the terms will not be known until it is voted upon by the Board of Supervisors.
Next Steps
Please attend the Nov. 5 membership meeting. It’s important that all members turnout for this meeting, because there are important decisions to be made. Click here to RSVP for the meeting.
Nothing is mentioned here about the status of merit raises in the counter proposal. Could you let me know where that stands? Thanks
mike
The bottom of the calculator doesn’t seem to change, except for the net pay. County pays 28.85 biweekly for my 401k, but that doesn’t reflect on the form. Do I need to do something else?
@Mike – That proposal is no longer being considered. Thanks.
How long can we hold out with no contract? I believe we should wait until other propsals/cuts are made to higher ups or high earners before the lower paid workers agree to any cuts. If bank CEO’s can take cuts at the top, then so should the County’s highest paid.
Ventura County workers already have the worst public pension in the state – approximately 1.6@55 yrs. Most other CA public pensions are either 2.0 or 2.5.
I wish I would have understood this before I was hired. Notice how every other county, except Ventura County, advertises their retirement multiplier on job announcements? They obviously know it’s horrible for the employee and try to hide it during recruitment.
Essentially VC workers need to work an additional 5 years to equal what other county workers (in CA) receive upon retirement. Not to mention that we pay a considerable amount “after tax” to help fund this substandard pension.
Now the county wants us to pay even more out of pocket? We’re not asking for even an average pension but please don’t make the current one even worse.
Ventura County has become the “WalMart” of CA counties in how they value their employees.
I just read the “More Enter Top County Pay Bracket” article that was posted in the Ventura County Star on November 8, 2009. This article states there are Twenty-Four employees that made more than $200,000 last year. That number is up from the seven who earned that much two years ago. Out of these twenty-four employees, many make over $100,000 in OT and many make over the amount of their maximum listed salary because of bonuses or selling of vacation time.
This is just wrong! I really hope that SEIU Representatives are paying attention to this information don’t settle our Contract easily.
I’d suggest that rather than the County reducing the amount they contribute to our retirement, or freezing deserved merit increases to save money, they should begin by taking a look at the pay of those twenty-four employees named in that article.
We need to be prepared to fight for our benefits because these cuts are not temporary they are permanent.
In the Nov. 8 VC Star article Marty Robinson stated “managers will not ask employees to give up any benefits that they themselves won’t surrender in their next employment agreement.” When exactly is that? Why should SEIU members suffer the loss in pay while other union members and managers continue to receive their same pay.
I suggest we agree to the following temporary cuts for all employees not just SEIU;
-Freeze Merit increases
-Furlough Days
-Freeze on 401K contributions
-Education Incentives
-Bilingual Incentives
-Over Time pay (use Comp hours)
Also, I think we need to start discussing the possiblity of a strike. A few days on strike now will save us thousands in the years to come if we accept the County’s recent contract proposal.
I believe SEIU is one of the worst unions around, we never get a decent raise even when times are good and the benes sure don’t seem to match what other counties have, so here we go again ,the workers taking it on the chin while management stays fat and sassy, The last strike we had was a joke because we have no strike fund so it did nothing.I also read about all the corruption in the union so I am opting out of paying dues because I was hired before they were manditory. I was hoping to retire soon but I guess not. swell
This is in response to D Duite Nov 10, 2009 @ 2:15. It’s very unfortunate that your perspective of our/my union happens to be a very bitter perspective. First of all we are the union NOT SEIU employees. Our Union is only as strong as it’s member’s involvement. I don’t know how active you have been in our union but that’s what it takes. There are only a couple hundred members who seem to get involved. We have over 4,000 members and not even 10% of them seem to get involved. I think it is important to remember why you even have health care, vacation days, and many other benefits; IT’S BECAUSE WE ARE UNION MEMBER AND NOT AT WILL EMPLOYEES. I say get involved and do something! Action speaks louder than words. We need members to be involved and to have the ability to understand negotiations, and what will be good for all and not just for one. I served my country for 23 years in the Navy so we could use our voice hand to act upon our convictions, not to sit by and complain….join us…we would love to have another active member. Now would be a good time to get active and focus your frustration on the employer that wants to change all of our pensions. Take care.
Many County workers cannot afford a strike. I for one am one of them. Its funny I mentioned the ‘higher ups’ need to take a cut before we settle. And a few days later the VC Star ran an article about the County’s highest earners! Wow. The County needs to do something about their incomes, and benefits. I’m sure they can deal with a few cuts, right! If they expect the lowest paid earners to do so, and feel we can make it or deal with it, then so can they! So far we have heard nothing from them…why not? Why are they silent. Tell us what you are willing to do to ‘help’ in these tough economic times. Cut out private county cars, uniform expenses, trips, and hire more people for those positions that are causing such high OT expenses. With those incomes I’m certain they can deal with those cuts well.
For those of us that are within a few years of retirement furloughs are a terrible idea because it reduces our retirement earnings. We have planned for many years those last three years to be our highest. Many of us are selling back vacation hours. You make us take furlough days, thereby reducing our earnings and it not only affects this year, but our retirement earnings for the rest of our lives! Rather we increase our retirement contributions which would save the County the same amount of money but would come off the bottom and not earnings. At least give us a choice!
The county’s primary concern is solvency of the pension system. They need to replace investment losses to remain solvent. Assuming 3% of the county’s ongoing pension contribution does nothing to replenish the system. It remains under funded. What they need is a quick, and temporary, infusion of cash. They need a net increase in retirement contributions.
Furloughs, on the other hand, adds money and provides some immediate relief to the county’s problem, especially if invested now while the market is rebounding.
For comparison, to make up losses to my family’s retirement savings we wouldn’t increase my contributions AND decrease my wife’s contribution. We would look for ‘additional’ funding – any opportunity to cut back on luxuries, sell unnecessary assets, or even take a second job would be considered.
Assuming 3% of the county’s contribution to the retirement plan does nothing to shore up the pension system, it’s a permanent pay cut, plain and simple.