Thread: U.S. Supreme Court rules against SEIU Local 1000 in fee case

June 21, 2012

U.S. Supreme Court rules against SEIU Local 1000 in fee case

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that SEIU Local 1000 didn't appropriately notify members and fair-share payers when it temporarily raised fees in 2005 and 2006.

The 7-2 decision released by the high court this morning in Knox v. SEIU Local 1000 means that unions must give nonmembers an immediate chance to opt out of unexpected fee increases or special assessments required of workers in closed-shop workplaces, such at California's state government.

The court said that Dianne Knox and other nonmembers represented by Local 1000 didn't receive the legally required notice in advance of a $12 million assessment the 93,000-state employee union charged them to raise money for the union's political fund.

In 2007, a district court ruled against the union and ordered refunds of the money with interest. San Francisco's 9th Circuit Court reversed that decision as "practically unworkable."

The high court said today that union opt-out fee policies "approach, if they do not cross, the limit of what the First Amendment can tolerate." Then this summary passage:

The SEIU, however, asks us to go farther. It asks us to approve a procedure under which (a) a special assessment billed for use in electoral campaigns was assessed without providing a new opportunity for nonmembers to decide whether they wished to contribute to this effort and (b) nonmembers who previously opted out were nevertheless required to pay more than half of the special assessment even though the union had said that the purpose of the fund was to mount a political campaign and that it would not be used for ordinary union expenses. This aggressive use of power by the SEIU to collect fees from nonmembers is indefensible.

Here's full ruling:

The State Worker: U.S. Supreme Court rules against SEIU Local 1000 in fee case

The court said that Dianne Knox and other nonmembers represented by Local 1000 didn't receive the legally required notice in advance of a $12 million assessment the 93,000-state employee union charged them to raise money for the union's political fund.

Gee, I wonder who benefited from the political donations.

June 23, 2012

SEIU Local 1000 reaches tentative furlough agreement with Jerry Brown

California's largest public employees' union has tentatively agreed to accept furlough terms that will reduce employee pay by 5 percent starting July 1, but Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal to accomplish the savings with a shortened workweek isn't part of the deal.

Service Employees International Union Local 1000's deal with Brown, announced just a few minutes ago, accepts 12 unpaid leave days over the next 12 months. Although employees' paychecks will show the monthly hit on their wages, they have some flexibility to schedule the time off.

The agreement doesn't affect any other aspect of Local 1000's current contract, including a scheduled 3 percent raise for top-step employees scheduled for July 1, 2013.

The union said members will have a chance to vote on the agreement on Wednesday at one of about 100 polling places set up around the state. The results of the vote will be announced July 2.

Brown also gave Local 1000 two items on its wish list, agreeing to terminate all but the most essential state retired annuitants and student assistants and to set up a task force on state outsourcing.

Departments will have until Sept. 1 to purge retirees and students from their payrolls, with exemptions only for those whose jobs are deemed "mission critical." The state won't hire either during the 12-month furlough period for SEIU-covered workers.


Last year, about $110 million of the state's $15 billion payroll went to roughly 5,800 retirees who drew a pension and a paycheck, according to a Bee review of data from the state controller's office. The state employed about 1,600 student assistants in 2011, paying them a total of $13.4 million.

Those figures don't include employees in either the California State or University of California systems. Brown's authority doesn't extend to either system, nor does Local 1000 cover workers in either system.

In May, the governor suggested putting most state workers on 9.5-hour shifts, 38 hours per week. Departments would have closed every Monday or Friday, giving their employees longer weekends. But with Local 1000 representing half the state's unionized workers, the floating furlough agreement announced today means the four-day plan workweek is dead.

Walker said that Brown's idea was a "tweak" of her suggestion that the state adopt a 4/10 workweek to save money on operational costs.

But the logistics of longer workdays didn't go over well with many rank-and-file employees who worried about fatigue and lost productivity, child care and how the state would interact with federal or local agencies and private businesses that keep a standard workweek schedule.

Many employees rejected the notion of a pay cut as a matter of principle, since the union is under contract, and pleaded with Walker to avoid negotiating one with Brown.

Some suggested that Local 1000 refuse to compromise and force lawmakers to spend the time and effort on legislatively imposing a pay reduction that the union could fight in court. That door is now closed, assuming SEIU's voting members OK the agreement.

The budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year that starts on Sunday assumes $839 million in state employee payroll savings, about $401 million of that from the $92 billion general fund. SEIU is the seventh labor group to reach a furlough agreement. The others include unions representing correctional officers, fire fighters, CHP officers, psychiatric technicians, skilled crafts workers, maintenance and equipment managers and doctors and dentists.

Four groups haven't agreed to a pay reduction. They represent state attorneys and administrative law judges, engineers in Caltrans and a handful of other departments, park rangers and wardens, and operating engineers.

The State Worker: SEIU Local 1000 reaches tentative furlough agreement with Jerry Brown

July 3, 2012

SEIU Local 1000 members vote to accept furloughs

SEIU Local 1000 has announced that 65.76 percent of its members have approved a furlough agreement reached with Gov. Jerry Brown last month that assigns them them 12 unpaid days off over the fiscal year that started on Sunday.

The union announced the results on its website this morning, a day later than it had promised last week when it announced that members would have one day to vote at one of more than 80 polling places around the state. It did not release the raw tally of the votes in its announcement this morning.

"Because Local 1000 chose to negotiate with the governor rather than let our members be subject to imposed furloughs, we were able to achieve important solutions that went beyond a pay reduction in exchange for time off," Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker said in a statement posted this morning on the union's website.

The agreement requires the state to purge its payroll of all student assistants and "non mission-critical" retired annuitants by Sept. 1. The state won't hire either again while Local 1000-covered workers are on furlough.

The deal also sets up a task force that will regularly review outsourced service contracts.

The vote affirms a cost-cutting move that the Brown administration estimates will save the state some $839 million, about $401 million of that payroll relief to the general fund. SEIU's agreement is key to achieving the savings because the union covers 93,000 employees, roughly half the state's unionized workforce.

Many state workers were angry when Brown figured those savings into his May budget revision, since they are under two- or three-year contracts that already included a year of furloughs and remain in effect through June of next year.

Some SEIU workers were particularly upset, thinking that Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker had privately assured Brown that she could deliver the pay cut. Walker said that she had suggested going to a four-day, 10-hours-per-day workweek which Brown "tweaked" to a 4/38 schedule. That essentially amounted to a two-hours-per-week furlough that reached the 5 percent pay cut the governor sought.

Eventually, Local 1000 negotiators pressed for a more conventional floating furlough day that cut state employees' monthly pay by nearly 5 percent but allowed some flexibility with when they took the time off. Several other unions had previously agreed to similar furloughs, including, for the first time, groups representing CHP officers and state fire fighters.

The State Worker: SEIU Local 1000 members vote to accept furloughs