County Negotiations Update: April 6, 2023
Dear OCEA member,
The OCEA Negotiations Team met with the County yesterday, April 5, and we presented our first proposal—officially kicking off 2023 negotiations.
While we cannot share the specifics of our proposal due to the confidentiality of the process, we want to share elements of our presentation, which is a true reflection of your collective voice gathered from your completed negotiations surveys.
Here’s What We Told County Representatives Yesterday:
“The County no longer has the pull to attract quality staff who want to stay with the County. We need better pay, better retirement, and better benefits.”
“We need to have incentives to reduce the turnover rate. There is no incentive right now for new people coming into the County to stay.”
“We are only able to provide bare minimum services due to severely low staffing. Staff morale continues to be low, staff are burnt out and call out sick more often, and staff continue to leave for better paying jobs in the private sector that offer better work/life balance.”
We made clear that OCEA workers face rising prices for nearly every necessity, often working multiple jobs just to make ends meet, and are subject to an unnecessarily stressful work environment due to increased responsibilities and chronic understaffing.
Wages for over 70 benchmark County classifications are 6.84% lower than the statewide mean for California's 10 largest counties. Further, the County's position vacancy rate is almost double its own projections, resulting in more than 1,750 vacant OCEA-represented positions. This recruitment and retention crisis translates to annual County savings of $65.6 million from OCEA position vacancies alone. Nevertheless, despite the pandemic, despite the difficult working conditions, OCEA workers have continued to comprise one of the most efficient County workforces in the state.
As we told the County, based on the extensive independent forensic audit OCEA commissioned, the County is in its strongest financial position in decades, with little debt, and reserves much higher than recommended. Not only did the County’s General Fund Balance increase from fiscal year 2019-20 to 2021-22, but looking forward the County is expected to have a projected budget surplus of more than $500 million between fiscal year 2022-23 and 2027-28. Even in the face of a potential recession, today the County could cover its reserve spending during the Great Recession 25 times just from current reserves.
This year negotiations provide an opportunity for fair and equitable adjustments to wages, benefits, and working conditions to meet the dramatic surge in living costs, close the gap in pension benefits, and provide genuine relief from increased workload and understaffing. Our goal is to secure a comprehensive agreement for OCEA’s bargaining units that places a premium on economic fairness, security and stability, workplace safety and efficiency, and improved work-life balance for OCEA-represented workers.
It’s a New Day in Orange County when OCEA workers stand together and stand strong!
Stay tuned for more updates.
In Solidarity,
OCEA
Publication Date: April 6, 2023
