Court negotiations update - Aug. 29, 2019

On Wednesday, August 28th your OCEA bargaining team had our fourth bargaining session  with the Court. In our last communication, we told you that the Court provided a modest wage proposal, and we spent the bargaining session formulating our response. Yesterday, we had the opportunity to present that response.

Your team began the bargaining session by addressing the disconcerting aspects of the Court’s initial proposal. The team expressed our frustration and disappointment with the Court’s initial offer on wages.The Presiding Judge and CEO have to date authorized only an initial wage proposal that is totally unacceptable to your OCEA bargaining team, and we have firmly rejected it. 

Further, the message from the CEO during the so-called “roadshows” is that the Court is now preparing for the impending recession. So in bad times the Court has no money for us, and in good times it has no money for us so it can prepare for bad times. This is a worn out negotiations tactic that simply underscores the institutionalized hypocrisy of the Orange County Superior Court.

While the Court contends it cannot provide a fair wage proposal to its rank and file workers, it has granted wage increases over the past several years for managers averaging 4-6.3% each year. For OCEA members, the lack of significant wage increases has resulted in falling 5.6% behind the average Court worker in the state. Not investing in workers has resulted in 30% of all OCEA-represented members in the Court having less than 5 years of service. Workers are not staying at the Orange County Superior Court because it does not pay its workers a fair and competitive wage! 

The day concluded with the team returning to the OCEA office and evaluating our next steps. One notable action item is recruitment for the Union Action Team (UAT). The UAT is a group of OCEA members who help support the efforts of the OCEA bargaining team in their worksites. Union Action Team members are the “eyes and ears” of the union in the workplace. They inform and communicate to their co-workers updates on negotiations. UAT members participate in monthly meetings and conference calls. If you are interested in joining the Union Action Team, you can go to www.ocea.org/getinvolvedOur next Union Action Team conference call will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 5:30 p.m.

Bargaining will resume on Wednesday, Sept. 4.

Publication Date: August 29, 2019