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June 2019 Bargaining Update

Author: Human Resources
Date: 6/25/2019 4:12:11 PM

The Process of Evaluating Proposals

The County is committed to keeping employees informed on the contract negotiation (aka collective bargaining) process as we continue to work towards reaching an agreement with SLOCEA.

At this time, the County and SLOCEA teams are still evaluating each other's proposals and creating counter-proposals to achieve mutually beneficial compromises on issues.

In the meantime, we would like to take this opportunity to provide you with more information on the process the County follows when we receive a proposal from an employee association.

Each employee association has specific areas they want to address during collective bargaining. When the County receives a proposal from the association, we must thoroughly vet it to ensure all impacts are understood before tentatively agreeing or presenting a counterproposal. For example, if there is a proposal made for a specialty pay for employees assigned a specific task or duty that the association feels warrants additional compensation, the County would contact the department an work internally to gather information, such as:

  • the nature of the assignment
  • what other agencies pay for similar duties
  • what other County departments pay for similar duties
  • whether the duties are beyond the scope of the classification’s typical job duties
  • how many employees would be impacted
  • the impact to the department's budget

With some economic proposals, like special assignment pay, the County must also investigate HR and payroll system changes required to implement the proposed change.

Before evaluating proposals, the County gathers feedback from County department management teams in order to have a comprehensive understanding of the impacts. Having a complete picture, including impacts to cost and operations (staffing, administration, scheduling, etc.), is integral to ensuring that whatever is agreed upon at the table can be executed as intended and by the expected date.

After taking the time to gather this information, the County can take into consideration everything discovered and discussed before agreeing to a proposal or drafting a counterproposal. This helps us avoid unexpected complications when the agreement is implemented.

As negotiations progress, we will continue to provide updates and explain other parts of the bargaining process.