Court Negotiations Update - Aug. 15, 2019

Dear OCEA member,

Last week OCEA and the Court began negotiations for a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). During our meeting, each side made a financial presentation, but we did not exchange proposals.

On Aug. 14, the OCEA and Court bargaining teams met for our second negotiations session. At this meeting, the OCEA bargaining team presented the Court with our comprehensive proposal. It will come as no surprise that our proposal clearly reflected that our top priority is base building wage enhancements for all OCEA represented workers in the Court. Court workers have fallen behind other Courts, and as a result the Court is understaffed, overworked, and has unnecessarily created major barriers to the successful recruitment and retention of workers. And as you all know Orange County Court workers, more than in any other Court, need base building wage enhancements just to keep up with the ever-increasing cost of living in our area.

In addition to wages, the bargaining team presented multiple proposals that seek to improve the Court’s outdated workplace culture and provide workers with a more sensible and hospitable work environment. The negotiations session went late into the afternoon and the OCEA bargaining team had the opportunity to identify for Court management many of the Court’s self-inflicted worker-related problems and propose sensible solutions.

On Wednesday Aug. 21 we will be at the table again. We expect to receive the Court’s opening proposal as well as a response to our initial proposal.

If you want to get more involved in the negotiations process, please go to www.ocea.org/getinvolved.

In Solidarity,

Charles Barfield
OCEA General Manager

Publication Date: August 15, 2019