A one-year contract that provides an option to protect family incomes in the midst of the worst economy of our lifetimes.
On January 21, with assistance from the State Mediation and Conciliation Service, SEIU Local 721 and the County of Ventura reached a tentative agreement on a one-year contract.
The agreement includes a discontinuation of the County’s 3% “pick-up” of employee’s pension contributions effective June 27, 2010, but this could be offset if Local 721 members elect to discontinue the Tier II cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for which employees are currently contributing 2.63% of pensionable earnings. If Local 721 members elect to discontinue the Tier II COLA, paychecks will not be significantly affected; some employees will actually realize small increases in take-home pay. This will be decided through a membership vote.
Contract Highlights (partial list):
- A County-wide Labor/Management Committee to provide employees with a stronger voice to make recommendations for reducing waste, streamlining services and an avenue to address all other county-wide concerns.
- A Retirement System Review, in which the County and the union(s) will jointly review VCERA funding policies with an eye toward reducing costs in the future. (It was the County’s sharply higher pension costs that led to their proposal for cost-shifting this year.)
Local 721 members will vote on two issues:
1. YES, accept the agreement, or NO, reject the agreement and authorize a strike;
and,
2. CONTINUE the Tier II 2% cost-of-living adjustment, or DISCONTINUE the cost-of-living adjustment, thereby retaining 2.63% of pensionable earnings in paychecks.
The SEIU Local 721 Bargaining Committee is strongly recommending a YES vote to accept the Tentative Agreement. No recommendation has been made concerning the Tier II COLA.
Next Steps:
We will update the website and bulletin boards with complete information of the tentative agreement, a schedule of worksite meetings and voting details as soon as they are finalized.
Replacement Ballots:
Ventura County SEIU members should call (805) 644-8291 if they need a replacement ballot. Ballots are due by 5:00 pm on Tuesday, Feb. 16.
sure we lose our cola, great for short term thinking, how about the people who are near retirement, not so good for us as usual
Gotta love the phrase “This agreement includes a 3% shift of retirement costs……..” What else does this agreement INCLUDE ? Would like to see the whole package please. Not just the part to vote on.
Well, it’s voting time. First choice is to accept or reject the tentative contract. Second is to continue or discontinue the COLA contribution to our retirements.
QUESTION: Can someone from SEIU answer this question.
(1) On the “Tentative Agreement Summary” that was sent with out ballots, it states a change in “Article 5. Salary” to be “No Salary increases for the term of this agreement.” The question is: Do the “no salary increases” include no merit increases for the 6 month step and 1 year step?
REMEMBER: To all SEIU members:
Is you vote to DISCONTINUE the pension COLA, it means that you will NOT receive any annual increases when you retire. That means that, no matter how long you’re retired, you’ll be making the EXACT same amount EVERY year. So, my opinion, PLEASE VOTE TO CONTINUE the COLA! Cost of living goes up every year. It will be VERY difficult when you’re retired not to get any increases annually. AND, if you do vote to discontinue the COLA, it will be next to impossible to EVER get it back. PLEASE VOTE TO CONTINUE THE COLA!
Thank you.
SEIU: I look forward to the answer to my question.
Hello Debra,
I am part of the bargaining. I encourage you to call VCERA and ask them directly what is better for you personally and vote accordingly. The COLA was a good idea for some but not many. I hope all members call VCERA before they cast their VOTE. It will be enlighting. For me if it is voted out I will reinvest it into my 401K. I plan on retiring in 10 years and equally as worried to what the future holds. That is why I am involved. After you call VCERA please encourage other members to so and get out the VOTE. Thank you for your comment. Letty
Sarah
Approximately 1300 members will receive the merit increases. The rest are maxed out and will not receive any increases. The contract is up September 2010.
As I stated previously please call VCERA to find out how long it will take for you personally to get back your owe money that you pay into the COLA Tier II. Please do not vote until you have consulted with VCERA.
Nothing was gained, nothing was lost. This whole contract was about shifting cost to memebrs.
I take back the nothing gained, MANAGEMENT now has to pay 3% into retirement. We advocated for a shared sacrifice and gained that if that means anything to you.
According to the paperwork I, and the other SEIU members received in the mail, along with our ballots, it stated that “the bargaining commitee is neutral regarding the COLA discontinuation/continuation”. It does not, however, sound like there is neutrality since the only side of the matter we received in the mail was about how discontinuing the COLA contribution would help offset our take home pay loss.
While I understand the benefit of discontinuing the COLA to offset my take home pay loss due to the 3% pension shift, if I were to invest the funds that would have went to my COLA, to a 401K or other manner, I will still be losing the 3% take home pay from the pension shift because I am still contributing that 2.63% into something else (401k, etc).
AND, if I were to choose to discontinue the COLA and invest that money in something else, it would be more riskier. If the market takes another hit, more than likely I would lose a lot, most or all of the money I put in the 401K.
If we choose to CONTINUE the COLA, we would DEFINITELY get a 2% increase, EVERY year, once we retire.
It took what, 30 years to get the COLA contribution… if we discontinue it now, we will NEVER get it back.
Letty, while I appreciate you trying to answer my question, I would still like to hear directly from SEIU regarding the question:
(1) On the “Tentative Agreement Summary” that was sent with out ballots, it states a change in “Article 5. Salary” to be “No Salary increases for the term of this agreement.” The question is: Do the “no salary increases” include no merit increases for the 6 month step and 1 year steps? Meaning, if I am not at my salary max, I would still receive the merit increases for the 6 month and 1 year steps.?
TO all: If you choose to discontinue the COLA and invest that money in something else (like a 401k), remember:
-you’ll still take the 3% take home pay loss from the pension shift
-the market, then, will dictate what you earn, if the market takes a hit, you could lose all the money you invested in your 401k, instead of the COLA.
–by keeping the COLA, you are GUARANTEED a 2% annual increase in retirement pay. it’s not guaranteed if you invest that money in the stock market or anywhere else.
I encourage all to vote!
RE: COUNTY’S BUDGET for Fiscal year 2011 (July 2010 – June 2011)
It has been announced today that there will not be any budget cuts in the next fiscal year. This means no layoffs! And should mean no more pay cuts!
Sarah,
I am an SEIU stewart, leader and part of the Bargaining team. I try to keep myself as well as informed or more so than the staff at the local. There are times that I have the info before the staff as a member of the Bargaining Team.
sarah,
If you have not reached your max salary. You will receive a merit increae. Now your supervisor has the ability to deny the merit based on performance. Otherwise, you WILL receive a merit increase on your aniversary date of passing probation period.
Sarah,
This sound good for you, but that may not be the case for someone else. Each person needs to VOTE according to what works best for them. We are neutral because what works for someone may not work for others. Not everyone lost money in their 401K investment because everyone invested differently.
I hope the members reading these comments do not take either of our advice to vote to keep or to discontinue based our dialogue, but what is good for themselves.
You want to keep – I want to discontinue – It is a personal choice and each member needs to decide for themselves, what is best for their future.
I COMPLETELY agree that it’s a personal choice to continue/discontinue the COLA. I was merely informing everyone about my opinion and giving them some financial advise of the benefits of continuing the COLA. It seems the only side of the topic that was sent to us were the benefits to discontinue the COLA. I was giving benefits, in my idea, of keeping the COLA.
Also, I do have a stong accounting and finance background. I understand, greatly, how a lot of these cuts effect our bottom line. I know how to figure out calculations, and think of angles that people without an accounting/numbers/finance background may not think about.
You should agree that I am merely stating my opinion and realistic reasons why I choose to continue te COLA.
Also, if you, or anyone out there, knows of someone who has NOT lost money in their 401K over the past couple, recession, years, PLEASE give me their name, as I would LOVE to talk to them and see how they did it!
I would also like to add that I am a little weary to call VCERA and ask for their advise… they are a company, like all others, that is FOR profit. I can see why any pension corporation would want to have any COLAs discontinued, because then they WOULDN’T have to pay it, thus creating MORE profit for them. (from a business point of view)
Unless, you are a license broker, CPA and vast experience in investments. The membership should not be taking advice from you. They should only be discussing this with their tax consultant or VCERA or a license investment broker. If it does not work out for them because they took your ADVICE the finger will point at YOU and not the County or SEIU or VCERA but you because they took your advice.
They don’t have to take my advise OR yours. I was just voicing MY opinion, like you were voicing yours. That’s what blogging is for: voicing opinions, etc.
And, I have 2 degrees, 1 in Accounting and 1 in Finance. Perhaps I am a CPA.
But, because of my numbers background, education, and training, I figured I would bring a point of view from someone with m y type of background.
I’m very happy that people voted. Either way they voted, it’s AWESOME they voted!
I am here to fight for and help the employees. I am a County Employee AS WELL AS a SEIU member. But ultimately, I want to make sure all the employees have a view to all sides or issues so they can make their mind up.
I understand people differ on points of views on issues. I’m just trying to help make sure everyone can make an education decision.
Thank you for your help as well, by voicing your point of view, which is opposite to mine. I hope people took them both into consideration, as well as any other things they learned in SEIU meetings, or outside it all.