More than 500 Santa Barbara
County social service and eligibility workers were left without a contract this
week as members refused to ratify a new pact offered by the Santa Barbara
County Supervisors. Other unions accepted the offer and their three-year
contracts were approved during the county board meeting Tuesday.
Two unions, after months of
negotiations between the county and union representatives, received a unanimous
approval for contracts from the county supervisors. The groups, the Service
Employees International Union, Local 620, the county’s largest union with 2,109
members working in almost all county departments, and the 158-member Engineers
and Technicians Association, covering employees in public works, public health,
planning and development, fire, sheriff, clerk-recorder-assessor, parks, and
general services, had almost identical contracts and pay raises, which, on the
average, total nine percent, to be paid over the next three years.
The third contract, for SEIU
Locals 721 and 535, had equivalent terms, but was not ratified by the
membership. There was no word as to when union negotiators and the county would
return to the bargaining table.
A union rally last October
called for the employees, who include career employment specialists, probation
assistants, public defender investigators and medical service representatives,
to petition the county supervisors for a fair contract.
The group has been without a
contract since the first week in October. At the last bargaining meeting,
county management remarked that union demands were “grossly out of the
ballpark.” In response, one child welfare worker said, “What they’re offering
is not even worth an extra gallon of milk a month.”
The Santa Barbara County
contracts approved included cost of living adjustments, a floating holiday,
increased contributions from the county for retirement, a benefit allowance,
and added contributions to pension funds, which will total more than $3
million.
The engineering group’s
contract included close to $2 million in benefits and increased salaries,
according to Susan Paul, county human resources director.