SEIU 721 members in the City of Palm Springs voted 87% to ratify a proposed contract with management on Tuesday, July 15, 2014. The four-year contract was approved by City Council on Wednesday evening.
Public employees have been under attack by anti-worker interest groups who have tried to blame public service workers for the recession. The real facts are that Riverside County public service retirees only receive $25 a month toward retiree medical benefits and current workers are below community standards in wages.
SEIU 721 Gold Coast Transit members voted strongly to approve the Tentative Agreement with Gold Coast Transit. The bargaining team had been bargaining since January of 2014.
The SEIU 721 City of Palm Springs bargaining team negotiated a tentative agreement with Palm Springs management on Tuesday, July 15, 2014. City workers will see a 4% salary increase over the four-year contract. A ratification vote will be held Tuesday, July 15.
Following several weeks of City of Hemet worker testimonies on how proposed layoffs and cuts will affect working families and the need to respect the collective bargaining process, the Hemet City Council approved a budget that calls for elimination of positions and more cuts.
After a lengthy legal process which lasted almost five years, PERB has ruled Riverside County violated the rights of SEIU 721 members when it declared impasse in 2009 and denied step increases to several hundred members. These workers are owed thousands of dollars in back pay and interest penalties.
Reflecting on the past and moving toward the future, negotiations between SEIU 721 Palm Springs General Unit and city management began on Wednesday, April 15, 2014, with the union acknowledging the retirement of SEIU negotiator Mark Reid’s years of service and having optimism for this year’s bargaining.
In the next few months, SEIU 721 Riverside County members have an opportunity to negotiate for contract improvements on two important topics — retiree medical benefits and job parity fairness. Voting has begun to elect two bargaining teams to represent all bargaining units.
SEIU Local 721 members at the Ventura Regional Sanitation District (VRSD) voted to approve the Tentative Agreement on February 26, 2014. The VRSD board voted to approve the Memorandum of Understanding on March 6.