California Staff Organization - President's Message

February 07 President's message

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 23:43:35 -0500

The Collective Bargaining Agreement, Article XIX, Section 19.101 provides for a retirement program that includes a defined benefit retirement pension, defined contribution 401(k) and a defined benefit retirement medical benefit plan. The recent Pension Protection ACT (PPA) of 2006 modified existing funding rules for all multi-employer defined benefit plans and imposes requirements of corrective action for under-funded plans. Under PPA, a multi-employer plan is considered to be endangered status if it is less than 80% funded (or projected within the next six years) with an accumulated funding deficiency. The implementations of these new requirements is effective in 2008. Required corrective actions are swift and could be an increase in contributions, modifications of the benefit or a combination of both. Let’s be clear about this, the legislation was promoted by the then Republican majority and intended to eliminate workers’ defined pensions. Our current pension plan is not in funding jeopardy to pay out existing and future benefits. We are now being required to have a higher level of funding for the liability.

CSO STUFF

Mon, 29 May 2006 12:41:49 -0400

The CSO Representative Council spent time in July developing and reaffirming the direction of the union. During the September Council Meeting, representatives unanimously voted to commit to an organizing framework that promotes organizing as a culture within CSO. This culture based on the union tenet of relational organizing, will move us in a direction of achieving parity with the employer, while enabling us to deal with priority issues for our members, such as staffing and workload. Council brothers and sisters will be scheduling house meetings in the Fall. These house meetings will be the first step to assess (Plan-Act-Evaluate) our views on what constitutes an organizing culture while revisiting the Core Values and Code of Conduct.

Presidents Message, March 2, 2006

Mon, 13 Mar 2006 12:15:05 -0500

On January 31, 2006, Sister Norma Potter was told by the President of CNTA, John Davis, that the Executive Board had a stealth meeting the night before and no longer wanted her assigned to the UniServ. The leadership of CNTA violated every tenet of basic unionism we value and promote on a daily basis. Absent due process or just cause, the local then proceeded to change the locks on the office. This type of egregious behavior would never be tolerated by any self respecting union. CSO moved into action quickly by informing the CNTA membership of their own locals’ behavior. The actions taken were necessary, not only to share the injustice imposed upon a CSO member, but to send a message to all local UniServs acting in the capacity as management that this type of anti-union behavior will not be tolerated. Our quick steps became even more needed as time passed and CTA did nothing. Ironically, prior to this, both CTA management and leadership approached me to ask what actions CSO was going to take and offered encouragement. In other words, “please carry our water”.

February 10, 2006

Mon, 20 Feb 2006 10:51:40 -0500

CSO Rep Council members, in conjunction with Organizing Team members, are in the process of conducting a second round of house meetings. Discussion will be around bargaining survey priorities and recent Council action reaffirming the longstanding CSO policy of “No Contract, No Work.” Whether it is three or thirty union members, house meetings have provided the opportunity to participate in meaningful dialogue and debate with their union colleagues. The feedback from these meetings continues to give direction to both the Bargaining Team and the union as a whole. The CSO Annual Meeting, scheduled for March 25-26 in Redondo Beach will also focus on bargaining. Participants will help shape the framework to support the bargaining process. All CSO members are highly encouraged to attend and be part of the building process.

Currently, CSO has two grievances at arbitration: one regarding appropriate working conditions (cubicles), and another regarding internal transfer rights. Having been in advocacy work for a long time, I recognize that labor and management must sometimes use the grievance procedure to have a neutral make decisions regarding contract language. What is not acceptable, however, is to abuse the procedure with stall and delay tactics in order to sabotage the end result. CTA is regularly practicing just such tactics through their legal counsel, Larry Steinsapir et al. In both of the pending arbitrations, Steinsapir et al. has used objectionable strategies and challenges to repeatedly delay the hearings, adding more days at additional cost to both parties. Steinsapir’s firm is the only winner to date, racking up substantial legal fees. Unfortunately, CTA has failed to direct their counsel to use, rather than abuse the grievance process. In response, the CSO Rep Council voted in November to boycott referring GLS work to Steinsapir and his associates, and encourages all CSO members to do the same whenever possible.

October 2005

Wed, 26 Oct 2005 19:05:28 -0400

The special election is keeping all of us busy rallying CTA members to fight the Governor’s anti-worker/anti-education initiatives. CTA members are unifying around the issues and working together to fight back. Within CSO, we too, must stand united as we move forward in our negotiations with CTA. With both unions’ contracts set to expire at the same time, CSO and CAS have already developed strategies to demonstrate unity to CTA in our quest to achieve fair contract settlements.

Bargaining with CTA will be a test of our union solidarity. We continue to challenge CTA over the transfer article, as it relates to the hiring of internal applicants. CTA has bypassed qualified internal CSO members in order to hire externally. As CSO members, we can’t afford to fall into the trap of making this a member vs. member issue. This action creates divisiveness that encourages management.

The real issue is management disregarding the spirit of our collective bargaining agreement. Over the years we have seen a change in the interview process, where management and leadership are not consistent or uniform in application of criteria. We must stand united in challenging these violations of the CBA.