This is the Contra Costa County Labor Coalition Hotline with a bargaining update on Thursday, June 20, 2013. Not much happened today during bargaining. The County gave us very general, one might say vague, responses to the proposals we made last week. None of these proposals directly affect the big ticket items- health care and raises. Speaking of health care, the County claimed it had “good news” for us today. Kaiser rates will increase next year by no more than 4%. CCHP rates will go up by 1.5%. They don’t have the HealthNet rates yet, but suggested those will increase by a greater amount than Kaiser. The County expected us to turn cartwheels over these relatively low increases. They figure the smaller increases will make it easier for union members to continue to pay 100%. We pointed out that these smaller than expected increases make it easier for the County to pay more for health care so that we do not have to shoulder the full burden. Remember, the County has not changed its position on health care. It still wants union members to pay all the increases in monthly health care premiums. Management also told us today that the County should know in a couple of weeks how much more property tax it will collect for 2013-2014 than it did for 2012-2013. The Budget the Board of Supervisors adopted assumes a 2% increase. If the actual growth is more than that, the County will have more money than it has budgeted. We will tell the County that using any additional money to help repair the damage done by the sacrifices we have made the last several years is the right thing to do. We hope we don’t have to strike, but, just in case, you should be saving money. We are scheduled to meet with management next Thursday, June 27th. Check the hotline for updates. (925) 335-5595.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 16:18:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015