About 1,200 of Sonoma County's largest employees union will start voting on the tentative pact Tuesday, having reached a tentative agreement on a new contract with the county, SEIU officials said Friday.
Some 1,800 Sonoma County workers are in the Service Employees International Union Local 1021, according to Lathe Gill, an area director of the SEIU 1021.
The tentative agreement came after a 17-hour negotiation session Wednesday that ended after midnight Thursday, Feb. 14. The union represents employees from virtually every county department exclusive of law enforcement agencies, Sonoma County governmental affairs director Jim Leddy said. He said the pact accommodates the interests of both the county and the SEIU.
The tentative agreement comes two months after union members rejected a management proposal and before a proposed unfair labor practice strike at worksites throughout the county scheduled for Feb. 28, according to the union's website.
If ratified by the union, the contract will be in effect from March 18, 2013, through Oct. 31, 2015. It calls for a three-percent reduction in total compensation costs, but provides the union employees the first cost of living raise in five years, Leddy said. The agreement also is expected to reduce the county's future pension costs.
On its website, SEIU Local 1021 said the proposed agreement retains a low-deductible health plan, converts 17 hours of floating holidays to vacation, provides at least $1,915 in one-time money for each worker, includes a three-percent cost of living adjustment over the term of the contract and gives health care relief for families.
The tentative agreement is published here on the SEIU website.
SEIU 1021 represents more than 54,000 employees in local government, nonprofit agencies, health care programs and schools in Northern California.
Bay City News Service reports contributed substantially to this article
