Santa Clara City Desk
By Carolyn Schuk

City Fails to Get PSNSEA Agreement to New MOU

After reaching an impasse in contract negotiations with employee Bargaining Unit #10, the Santa Clara City Council voted unanimously to impose its "last, best and final" offer on the employee group, with which it first opened negotiations last September. The employees will continue to work without a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the City.

The union, which represents Santa Clara's non-sworn public safety employees (PSNSEA) such as 9-1-1 dispatchers and Community Service Officers, was one of two city unions that refused to agree to pay concessions in the face of a Santa Clara budget deficit. Instead, Unit 10 chose member layoffs.

• The central bone of contention was a 12% pay cut requested by the City. The PSNSEA offered to take no raise and agreed to other City requests; the most notable of which was the institution of a two-tier pension system.
• According to state law, if negotiations between public agencies and their employees reach an impasse, the public agency can unilaterally impose its last, best, and final offer.
• The contract concessions agreed to by eight of the City's bargaining groups included:
• No raises for the 2010-2011 contract year,
• Cuts in take-home pay in the form of unpaid furloughs: 144 hours (4.95%) for Fire and Battalion Chiefs in Fire Management and 96 hours (4.61%) for other employee groups.

Cumulatively, those Santa Clara employees took home between 9% and 14% less than their original contract agreements. (Furlough hours count as "hours worked," and don't reduce the amount of pay the City reports to PERS.)

The City's position has been that fairness to all employees mandates an equal share of the sacrifice for PSNSEA members. The union didn't see it that way, however.

"I've never experienced negotiations like this," PSNSEA attorney and chief negotiator Peter Hoffman told the City Council. "It is beyond disappointing...The salaries that we're talking about affect these people's lives. We're talking about destroying these people's lives. The purpose for that is because they did not agree to concessions a year ago." Hoffman went on to characterize the city's posture as "punitive, retaliatory, vindictive, and frankly, not a good place to work.

Hoffman was unimpressed the City's appeal to "fairness," noting that City employees "have different bargaining units and they negotiate different contracts. They perform different jobs.... They have different pensions. They have different salaries. Their benefits and wages change on different schedules. The competitive market for the different groups is different.

Yet now, when it benefits the city we hear about fairness and equity," he continued. "What we're talking about here is not fair or equitable. There's no fairness or equity in taking money from people and telling them to work more and work harder."

After this introduction, several employees and members of their families spoke of the dire hardships the proposed pay cut would inflict on them.

"I'm here tonight so you can see the impact of your decision on one family," said Rosanna Fitzgerald a 17-year Santa Clara 9-1-1 dispatcher. "I am a below-market-rate homeowner in Santa Clara. As you know, to qualify one have must have a low-to-moderate income.

"I have a 16-year old who's a sophomore at St. Lawrence Academy," she continued. "To afford her tuition, I gave up owning a car. I've made my daughter's continued enrollment in private school contingent on hard work and participation. And yet I stand here wondering what tomorrow will bring us.

"The city of Santa Clara, which is no longer in the midst of the great recession and is in the midst of a great recovery, wants to cut my salary by 12 percent. Twelve percent of my salary will most likely mean I will be returning my home to you. Twelve percent will possibly mean...it won't be enough to keep her at the school she so dearly loves."

Tuition at St. Lawrence Academy is $13,352 a year (www.saintlawrenceacademy.com). Salaries paid to communications dispatchers in Santa Clara range from $89,688 to $106,356 (www.santaclaraca.gov).

PSNSEA's 2008-2011 Contract Included Hefty Raise

PSNSEA's previous contract (Memorandum of Understanding, MOU) spanned 2008 through 2011. That contract included:

• A 14.6% raise
• An additional 2.5% raise for Communication Dispatcher and Sr. Communication Dispatcher positions (total: 17.1%)
• A commitment by the City to cover any increases in CalPERS contributions for employees
• City payment of $600 per year per employee to a Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Account
• Increased vacation hours accrual
• Bilingual pay
• A 5% bonus for those training new Records Specialists.