Court Negotiations Update - Oct. 3, 2022

OCEA member,

On Friday, Sept. 30, the OCEA coalition bargaining team met with the Superior Court bargaining team for our fourth negotiations session. You can read a recap of our prior negotiations here. During the Sept. 30 session, OCEA responded to the Court’s initial proposal. Consistent with member input, OCEA’s proposal has base building wages as its centerpiece. Currently, the Court’s wage proposal and OCEA’s wage proposal are not close. The OCEA bargaining team reiterated our firm position that an agreement must include substantial wage increases for all OCEA members.

Currently, we are at a place in negotiations where the items of discussion (e.g., wages) are narrowing on both sides. The intent of negotiations is to reach an agreement that both sides can support. However, if we run out of exchanges, we will need to escalate our pressure on the Court. We are not there yet, but we need to prepare for all outcomes.

To provide a complete update on negotiations and steps that could be taken to secure a fair MOU, the Negotiations team will hold OCEA membership meetings at each Justice Center as scheduled below:

• Oct. 14 at Central Justice Center, 1^st Floor Jury Assembly Room
• Oct. 21 at West Justice Center, 1^st Floor Jury Assembly Room
• Oct. 28 at Lamoreaux Justice Center, 5^th Floor Conference/Training Room
• Nov. 4 at North Justice Center, Jury Assembly Room, Rm. 370
• Nov. 18 at Harbor Justice Center, Jury Assembly Room, Rm. 222

These meetings will be led by members of the OCEA 2022 Negotiations team.

OCEA is also hosting a Union Action Team (UAT) meeting on Tuesday, October 11 at 12:15 p.m. via zoom. The UAT is a space where OCEA members can receive ADDITIONAL INFORMATION about negotiations that can be used to educate their co-workers and to help mobilize OCEA members into action.

The primary responsibilities of the Union Action Team include:

• Participating in UAT meetings (virtual)
• Educating yourself about negotiations
• Attending union meetings in your workplace
• Distributing union literature and other information

The OCEA bargaining team also welcomed the Executive Director of the Orange County Labor Federation, Gloria Alvarado. The Orange County Labor Federation represents more than ninety local unions from every sector of the labor movement and represents more than 200,000 working men and women. The Orange County Labor Federation strives to better the lives of all workers. OCEA is a proud member of the Orange County Labor Federation. With the united effort of our unions in Orange County, we seek to build a labor movement that will help lead a new wave of political and workplace organizing for worker justice. The Orange County labor movement is further committed to building a program that helps our unions grow collectively and individually. The team briefed Gloria on where we are in negotiations so our fellow Orange County union members can stand with us for a fair contract.

Our next session will take place on Oct. 7, 2022. We will update our members following the next meeting.

In solidarity,

Charles Barfield
OCEA General Manager

Publication Date: October 3, 2022