Quick Notes: YCEA LOCAL #1 SITE REPRESENTATIVE MEETING

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Local #1 Crab Feed: Public Employees Union Local #1 is holding their 10th annual Crab Feed. The event will be held on Saturday, February 4, 2012 at the union hall in Martinez .YCEA has purchased 12 tickets to this event. These tickets are first being made available to Board Members and Site Representatives, but if members are interested they should contact the SYCEA office. Carpooling from Yuba City office to the event will be coordinated.

Bulletin Board Contest: It was announced in December that SYCEA would be conducting a Bulletin Board Decoration Contest during the first two weeks in January 2012. We've had several work locations express interest and indicate their intent to participate. Site Reps and/or participating members at each location will have a $20 budget for decorations. The themes for YCEA are "Strength Through Diversity" or "Making a Difference Through Political and Legislative Action". Participants were asked to take pictures of their bulletin board and to provide these pictures to the Association Office no later than Friday, January 20. Representatives from the SCEA Board of Directors will judge the YCEA bulletin boards and vice a versa. The winners in each county will be awarded a $100 prize.

Public Employee Pensions: 2012 will be a very busy year monitoring efforts to reform public employee retirement benefits. The Governor's proposed reforms have been discussed and debated before a Joint Conference Committee of the legislature. It seems apparent that major reforms will occur this year and will most likely be partly included in the annual budget process and also by separate initiatives placed on the November 2012 election ballot by Legislature. There are also two initiatives that have been cleared by the Secretary of State and Atty. Gen.'s office for circulation. These initiatives are much more detrimental to public employees, both current and future. The proponents of these initiatives are currently conducting polling to determine which of the two has the greatest chance of success. Please be cautious about what you sign by signature gatherers circulating petitions in front of retail stores.

Retiree Seat Discussion by YCEA Board: Staff will be recommending that the YCEA Board of Directors consider creating a nonvoting seat on the Board of Directors to be filled by a retiree from Yuba County. The purpose of this position is to allow a retiree to have input and provide suggestions regarding the retirement benefits of current and future retirees. The position will also help monitor developments that could affect retirement benefits.

Yuba Court Comprehensive MOU: Subsequent to finalizing the Master Labor Agreement in the County, Staff began working with the Court to establish a similar document to capture all terms and conditions of employment that apply to Court employees. Since Court employees were County employees in the past, many of the working conditions are the same, even though there has been some divergences over the past decade since the Court became a separate entity. The Comprehensive MOU as it is being called in the Court is going through a final review and should be approved shortly and posted on the SYCEA website.

YCEA Pocket Calendars: The 2012 calendars have been distributed in the workplace through our Site Representatives, but in case you did not receive one, we still have a limited supply in the office so check with your Site Representative or call the Association office to make arrangements to obtain a calendar.

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