Dear Maintenance & Operations Colleagues,
I am pleased to share with you several significant economic improvements we have negotiated for all contract Maintenance & Operations workers effective January 1, 2015.
First, we have now achieved the same retirement bonus as has been in place for the Office/Technical employees, namely a bonus upon retirement equal to three months of your base salary, provided you give the District a 90 day advance notice of your retirement. Here is the actual contract language:
Unit members in Maintenance & Operations job classifications who have reached the age of fifty-five (55) and retire from the District and PERS with at least fifteen (15) years of classified service credit with the District, and who give the District ninety (90) days’ notice of intent to retire, shall receive an additional cash payment equivalent to three (3) months of the unit member’s salary schedule monthly base pay.
Second, we have increased the life insurance policy of all M&O unit members from $25,000 to $50,000. M&O was the only employee unit in the District with less than a $50,000 policy.
Third, we have increased overtime pay for weekend overtime work. Saturdays in excess of eight hours shall be paid at two times the normal rate of pay (when Saturday is not a regularly scheduled workday). All time on Sunday will now be paid at two times the normal rate of pay.
Fourth, we have increased the percentage between step 6 and step 7 by one percent, making those steps now 5.0% apart. That means if you are currently on step 6, when you move to step 7 in January you will receive a 5.0% pay increase.
Fifth, we have created a new step 8 which is 2.75% above step 7. That means if you are currently on the top step 7, when you move to step 8 in January you will benefit from both the step 6/step 7 one percent increase as well as the step 7/step 8 2.75% increase for a total increase of approximately 3.78%.
Note that 71% of the unit is currently on either step 6 or step 7. Unit members currently on steps 1 through 5 will receive their 5.0% step increase in January as well.
I hope you recognize the benefit of these changes for all Maintenance & Operations workers, not just in 2015, but in the years to come.
The vehicle through which we are able to make these changes is the new Resource Allocation Formula (RAF) we recently concluded negotiating with the District. You can view these documents in their entirety by going to tinyurl.com/SDCCD2014RAF.
Ballots are now being mailed to your home address to ratify the economic settlement detailed above, and the new Resource Allocation Formula. Your AFT Guild Executive Council urges you to vote YES on both items. Please ensure your ballot is returned postmarked no later than Friday, December 19th (the earlier you can mail this in the better).
Please don’t hesitate to contact me or any of your AFT site reps if you have any questions regarding this settlement. I apologize for the late notice, but this was the best we could do with such a complex settlement to ensure these new provisions are reflected in your January 31st, 2015 paycheck.
I wish you and your families a very warm and restful holiday season!
In Unity,
Jim
Jim Mahler, President
AFT Guild, Local 1931
San Diego & Grossmont-Cuyamaca
Community Colleges
December 11, 2014 at 2:40:15 AM PST