The Ventura County Employees’ Retirement Association (VCERA) board voted 6-2 on Nov. 18, 2014 to allow pensionable compensation to be calculated based on a worker’s monthly pay. Having pension pay based on monthly pay seems like an obvious path but the County of Ventura has a differing position, arguing for base pay only in seeking a super narrow view of what should count towards a pension.
SEIU Local 721 Latino Caucus leaders from Ventura, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties met in Ventura on Nov. 15, 2014 to celebrate recent victories and review upcoming plans to help fight for changes in our communities.
SEIU 721 members in Ventura County initiated a meeting with the Ventura County Health Care Agency to review the County’s plan to keep workers and the community safe in light of the recent news that a second U.S. healthcare worker has contracted Ebola.
The SEIU 721 City of Port Hueneme Bargaining Team met with city negotiators on Thursday, October 9, and reached a tentative agreement. Members voted to approve the new agreement by a wide margin on Monday, October 13.
On Sept. 17, 2014, SEIU Local 721 and the County of Santa Barbara reached an agreement which will increase the pay by 5% for all social workers and career employment specialists in the county. The Board voted 4-1 to approve this wage adjustment during its Board of Supervisors meeting on Oct. 7.
SEIU Local 721 helped sponsor Central Coast Alliance United for A Sustainable Economy’s (CAUSE) 8th Annual Community Building Luncheon held on Friday, September 26, 2014.
Over 100 riders and passengers registered for the 70 mile Hogs for Dogs poker motorcycle ride this past Saturday, Sept. 20, to benefit Ventura County Animal Services.
The SEIU 721 County of Ventura Bargaining Committee has helped win most members over a 1-9% pay in extra increases over three years. This comes after SEIU 721 members helped defeat the pension-killing ballot measure and the SEIU 721 Workload Forum helped fight for and win more social worker positions.
On July 28, your bargaining team met with the County to review the results of the Market Based Adjustment Study, which is part of our current contract. The results are in, and not only is almost EVERYONE getting the 2% wage increase this August 16, over 1,800 SEIU 721 members will get an additional EXTRA 1-9% in wage increases this August 31.
The County of Ventura Board of Supervisors voted on August 5, 2014, to approve 59 new positions to help keep children safe in the County. The new additions, which include 30 new social workers, are the result of SEIU 721 Local members and staff working tirelessly with the County of Ventura through the joint Workload Forum to find better ways to lessen the impact of child abuse and neglect in our community.
A Ventura County Superior Court judge, Kent Kellegrew, issued a final ruling to take the pension-killing measure off the November ballot. The judge ruled that if the measure was against state law and if it was allowed to stay on the ballot it would result in a waste of taxpayer money because it could not be legally enacted.