Quick Notes to SCEA Site Representatives

June 5, 2008

Meet and Confer

We continue our meet and confer with the County regarding office closure and job sharing today June 5, 2008, at 2 p.m. We anticipate finalizing our tentative agreement today on both subject matters. The office closure agreement will ensure employees are compensated without a deduction from their leave balances when they are sent home due to electrical outages or other decisions by the County administrator due to conditions requiring work cessation. Details of the agreement will be disseminated to our site representatives after the agreement is finalized. These details will also be reported in the newsletter.

We also anticipate a tentative agreement on our job sharing agreement which will provide for retirees to participate. Individuals wishing to participate in job sharing will be responsible for finding their own job sharing partner and all parties will be required to enter into a separate agreement outlining the conditions of the job sharing arrangement. Specific details will be given to site representatives and communicated in the newsletter once the agreement is finalized.

Membership Picnic

Our picnic is scheduled for Saturday, June 28 at the Sutter/Yuba fairgrounds. The gate will open at 11:00 a.m. and lunch will be served approximately at 12 noon. The menu will be hamburgers and hot dogs and BBQ Seasoned/fried chicken, with potato and macaroni salad and other goodies. The also be serving soft drinks and beer. There will be activities for the kids, a jump house and door prizes. We're limiting this to the immediate family meaning those living in the household. Cost is $2.00 per adult (18 and older) kids get in for free. Members of the picnic committee have been issued tickets and a flyer will be issued shortly to members advising who they need to see to purchase tickets.

Membership Cards

We are gearing up to begin disbursement of the new SCEA Local #1 membership cards. We will inform our site representatives at the work location where we plan to hold a meet and greet for the purpose of dispersing the cards. Thank you in advance for your cooperation and support with this project.

Political Action

In Sutter County we won big on Measure R, 64% to 36%. This Measure would have started the process to convert the County to a charter county. The Sutter County Taxpayers Association was unofficially sponsoring this effort in order to influence decisions by the Board of Supervisors, including decisions related to wage and benefit improvements. We endorsed Jim Whiteaker who appears to have won by a small margin of votes. We also endorsed Larry Montna who got 45.4% of the vote in a five person race. We will have a fight in the November election because of the larger turn-out and the fact that the Sutter County Taxpayers Association will be putting their efforts behind Rick Libby their Vice President. If they succeed, it will again place our ability to improve wages and benefits at risk.

In Yuba County two of our candidates John Nicoletti and Mary Jane Greigo won easily. Our third candidate Don Schrader was not as fortunate. Don lost to challenger Roger Abe 69% to 31%. Don failed to take the challenge seriously and spend campaign funds he had. Additionally, anti-growth issues in the farmland and lower foothills worked against him.

Grievance Victory

Business Agent Marie Clark successfully advocated on behalf of one of our members to have a performance evaluation rescinded resulting in our member receiving her Pay For Service with Distinction (PFSWD) after 15 years service. As reported in the newsletter, SCEA gained the ability to file grievances on the denial of PFSWD when such denial is not supported by the facts. The right to file grievances on the subject matter is limited to determine this current agreement, so the County can evaluate our legitimate exercise of this right. We also will be scheduling meetings in the near future with County Administrator Larry Combs and the new Personnel Director Mary Lynn Carlton to discuss how this pay incentive program can be improved.

Tri-County Schools Insurance Group (TCSIG)

Through SCEA's efforts, longtime member Alice Williams-Root was appointed to the TCSIG Advisory Committee representing Sutter County. We are pleased to inform you that Alice has now been selected by the Advisory Committee to represent the Advisory Committee as a nonvoting member of the TCSIG Executive Board. Alice has submitted a letter to County Administrator Larry Combs requesting authorization for release time to participate in this capacity.

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