Report on ACSS’ meet and confer with DPA July 8

The Association of California State Supervisors presented its demands for this
budget session to the Department of Personnel Administration in a meet and confer
this morning (July 8).

Five members of the ACSS executive committee and three ACSS staff members
presented these demands to three DPA officials participating in the meeting. The
questions and demands were generated from information provided by the full ACSS
board of directors and the membership.

The association was willing to accept as a given the pension reform plan being
pushed by the governor and already accepted by six bargaining units. In exchange,
we asked for several concessions by the governor. This pension reform plan
reduces retirement benefits for state new hires but not for current state employees. It
does increase the employee contribution by 5 percent of earnings.

“We want some assurances this will not be all takeaways for excluded employees,”
said President Arlene Espinoza. “We are the state’s management team, the
employees who will be there no matter what happens to make sure the jobs for the
citizens of California are being accomplished.”

ACSS is asking for:

1. Protection from minimum wage. We want guaranteed continuous appropriation

so that excluded employees will receive their full salaries through July 1, 2013.
Excluded employees are being treated as a separate group in the current minimum-
wage negotiations rather than being tied to their bargaining units.

2. No furloughs for excluded employees through July 1, 2013.

3. The state to pick up the cost of benefit increases this fiscal year as has been
agreed to by some bargaining units.

4. A new 5 percent salary step at the top of each pay scale to be implemented
for excluded employees no later than July 2011, at least six months before the same
benefit is implemented for rank and file.

5. Reduced planned leave days from 12, as negotiated for some rank-and-file
bargaining units, to no more than eight for excluded employees. There would be no
deadline for the time to use these days. The planned leave program would expire
June 30, 2011.
6. The option for excluded employees to transfer the value of their leave hours
above the limit of 600 into an investment program such as Savings Plus, a 401(k) or
a 457 account.

7. The deadline to use banked furlough hours to be extended for excluded

employees.

We have asked for an expedited response and will report the results as soon as we
have them.