UPDATE – AB 109 NEGOTIATIONS

Over the last several months, CCPOA and the state have been in negotiations regarding the impact of the AB 109 Reductions. Due to AB 109, passed by the Legislature and the “Overcrowding Order” issued by the Supreme Court, the state sent out approximately 30,000 SROA letters informing staff that they were possibly subject to layoff. In an effort to mitigate the number of CCPOA employees actually laid off, CCPOA agreed to the first Wave of four Opportunities. Through this agreement relocation opportunities throughout the state, as well as additional OTAP and PICO positions for bid by seniority, were made available to staff effected by the layoff.

As a result of staff taking the opportunities offered in this first Wave, the number of staff potentially subjected to layoff has been reduced to approximately 250 statewide. CCPOA successfully negotiated one final opportunity available to those 250 staff to retain state employment. Therefore, if all identified staff avail themselves of this final opportunity, no BU6 employee will be laid off.

To avoid a possible layoff, many BU6 employees have taken PICO and OTAP positions. This has led to a situation where an employee with 10+ years of seniority now find themselves in PICO jobs. CCPOA has always honored seniority; therefore, the negotiating team has negotiated the following: when a Permanent Full Time (PFT) position becomes available, the most senior OTAP employee will be offered the position. Then, the most senior PICO (meaning total BU6 seniority, not institutional seniority) will be offered the newly available OTAP position. This process will occur with every PFT placement as it occurs.

Prior to the AB109 Reductions, the local Chapters met with management to discuss the elimination of positions due to deactivations. However, with the advent of the AB109 reductions, many institutions refused to provide information to the chapters or in some cases refused to meet locally. The CCPOA negotiating team has negotiated a drastic change in the process.

The state is now required to provide all information which is necessary and pertinent to AB 109 Reductions. The previous “local discussions” will now be formal Meet and Confer negotiations over the impact of these deactivations, which will result in written agreements, signed by both parties. Individual files for each deactivation will be created and the negotiating authority will be delegated jointly to the assigned Field Representative and the institution’s Chapter President. The Chapter President will determine the negotiating team members. If local negotiations breakdown, the issue will be elevated to the statewide AB109 table for resolution.

The team is now in the process of addressing a layoff appeals process: to include the re-evaluation of the seniority scores for staff receiving a layoff notice, a way to allow staff who have made drastic moves to get back to their previous area of employment, and the effect recent changes have made to the Post and Bid Process.

We will keep you informed as we continue to move through this process.

Source: Perry Speth