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March 16, 2022 CASE Files

Welcome to this week’s CASE Files, part of our commitment to keep you up-to-date on our work to increase your salary, improve and protect your benefits, and to aggressively represent your interests in every forum where your employment and professional interests are at stake.

CASE BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ UPDATE

Board Application Deadline is Tomorrow Night. CASE is continuing to accept applications from members interested in serving on the Board of Directors, which has three seats to fill.  The Board will consider all entries received by 11:59 p.m. on March 17, 2022, submitted via this online Expression of Interest application.  Applicants selected by the Board will serve out the remainder of the current, unexpired term for each seat before our annual elections later this year.

Under CASE Bylaws Section 4.08, vacancies may be filled by Board appointment. CASE leaders are acting quickly to fill the vacancies created by the March 4, 2022, resignations of three Board members. We need a full complement of Board members representing each aspect of the important work CASE members perform every day on behalf of Californians – especially as we begin bargaining this week with the State.

BARGAINING UPDATE

Bargaining Survey.  Negotiations for the next MOU consider all contract sections, not just salaries.  So CASE has launched this online survey for feedback to help shape our bargaining proposals regarding salaries, telework, paid family leave, locality pay, and more.  Please fill out the form by Friday, March 25, 2022. 

This will require all of us, working together, to succeed.  So please join your colleagues in the effort to achieve salary equity for ALL state attorneys, ALJs, and legal professionals, by becoming a dues-paying CASE member via this online form.

Your 2022 Bargaining Team. The CASE Bargaining Team begins negotiations this week with CalHR seeking to end the years of salary inequities borne by state attorneys, ALJs, and other legal professionals in Unit 2.  Your interests in those talks are represented by Bargaining Team members Tim O’Connor (Attorney V, State Compensation Insurance Fund), Talene Ghazarian (Attorney, Department of Health Care Services), Simon Hovakimian (Workers’ Compensation Judge I, Department of Industrial Relations), and Traci Belmore (Administrative Law Judge I, Department of General Services).   

Future of Telework.  Your CASE Officers, Directors, and staff are working hard to ensure that every state attorney, ALJ, and related legal professionals can work under a  schedule that provides them maximum flexibility to get the job done – be it remotely, from the office, or a hybrid arrangement. Telework is one of the first items on the Bargaining Team’s agenda as they begin negotiations with CalHR this week.

So while some local officials, including Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, have called for Governor Gavin Newsom to return all state employees to downtown offices, we remain steadfast in our commitment to fight for the remote-work flexibility that best serves you and your family.

CASE leaders understand the high priority members place on this issue, and we care deeply about it – after all, we work for the State of California, too.

Bargaining Begins March 17. CASE and CalHR have agreed to an initial bargaining schedule, with the first meeting set for March 17 to discuss telework and retirement issues.

BETTER KNOW YOUR MOU

You know there’s a contract, and chances are you know what it covers generally. Today, we debut a new feature – Better Know Your MOU – where we’ll highlight some famous, and not so famous, provisions of the Unit 2 collective bargaining agreement. First up, Article 2.9 which gives CASE the ability to greet new Unit 2 employees and introduce them to CASE, their exclusive representative. When you started your Unit 2 job, how did you learn about CASE? What’s the most important thing you think new employees should know when they become part of our collective bargaining unit? Any suggestions about how CASE can be even more welcoming? Let us know! 

CALPERS CORNER

In May, CalPERS pensioners will receive cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) of up to 4.7%, owing to a sharp increase in 2021 Consumer Price Index that the retirement system uses to calculate COLAs each year. Employees who retired this year or in 2021 are not eligible.

Please click here to visit the CalPERS COLA page for more details about the May 1 adjustment.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

  • ENJOYING CASE FILES?  If you haven’t yet completed our communications survey, let us know what you’d like to see in future emails and newsletter.  
  • CASE STAFF UPDATE. As we reported last week, CASE retained Blanning & Baker Associates, effective March 1 to assist us at the bargaining table, in the Legislature, and anywhere our interests are at stake. B&B’s team is led by Staff Director Chris Voight, who brings five decades of experience in bargaining, lobbying, public relations, membership engagement, and media strategy.  Look for exciting developments in all of those areas and our new team quickly moves ahead under the guidance of CASE’s Board of Directors.  

JOIN CASE TODAY!

Strong membership sends a clear message to CalHR: We’re in the fight for better compensation, better benefits, and safeguarded retirement together. Members alone vote for their Board representatives and to ratify our contract. And only members receive representation by our skilled, knowledgeable CASE staff if they are subject to discipline or do not receive a promotion when due. Join CASE today by filling out an application online via this link.

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