Negotiations Update: May 4, 2023

OCEA member,

The OCEA Negotiations team met with the County on Wednesday, May 3 for our fourth formal negotiations session. You can read our last recap here. Recall, the OCEA Negotiations team left last week’s session “cautiously optimistic that bargaining was headed in the right direction.” The bargaining session on May 3 was no different.

First, the OCEA Negotiations team met without the County during the morning. During that meeting the OCEA Negotiations team reviewed each of our proposals, discussed potential counter proposals, and confirmed our overall strategy. The OCEA Negotiations Team also reviewed updated regional and state inflationary data and analyzed the recent settlements of other Counties and public agencies, in addition to other relevant information. The Negotiations team used this data to develop our next steps.

Then, in the afternoon, the County Negotiations team arrived and met with the OCEA Negotiations team at which time we presented the County with our next proposal. Our team sent the message that it is time for the County to make meaningful improvements for OCEA members and we reiterated the priorities of OCEA members to the County. We must face the economic realities OCEA members confront daily. We must reinvest in public services that have been decimated by the pandemic. We must address the recruitment/retention crisis impacting the County.

The Negotiations session concluded in the late afternoon. OCEA and the County agreed to meet again next week and will meet most Wednesdays until we reach a tentative agreement.

To provide a more comprehensive overview of where we are in Negotiations and to answer any questions, the Negotiations team is holding a Virtual Membership Meeting taking place at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, May 11. You can see the meeting information below.

You can submit a question or topic you would like to see covered at our Virtual Membership Meeting, by clicking HERE.

Publication Date: May 4, 2023