MONDAY NEGOTIATIONS PROGRESS UPDATE
Negotiations Continued on Monday; District Increased One-Time Payments in Enhanced Compensation Proposal Sent to SCTA
Dear Sac City Unified Families,
The Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) and SCTA continued to make progress in negotiations on Monday.
District latest counterproposals to SCTA
The district sent updated counterproposals to SCTA on Monday that further enhanced compensation for SCTA-represented employees by increasing one-time stipends for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years from 1% to 1.5% bringing the total increase offered to employees to 9.65% through a combination of one-time stipends and an ongoing salary increase. You can read the district’s latest proposals at:
District proposal, March 28: Successor Contract
District proposal, March 28: Substitute Pay & Extra Work 2021-2022 School Year
The district passed these two proposals in response to these proposals passed by SCTA this afternoon:
SCTA proposal, received on March 28: SCTA Proposal to SCUSD
SCTA Proposal, received on March 28: MOU Substitute Pay & Extra Work
The increases to the one-time stipends for 2019-20 and 2020-21 in the district’s successor contract proposal (District proposal, March 28: Successor Contract) build on the enhanced proposal offered on Sunday to give certainty to employees as the district addresses unsustainable health benefit costs identified by state and independent entities over many decades with a stipend covering 100% of the out-of-pocket cost for the HealthNet health benefit plan for one year. As a result, employees who choose to remain on HealthNet through June 30, 2023 will have no out-of-pocket costs while the district identifies additional health care plan choices at the Kaiser plan cost. The district is also offering a stipend of $3,000 for employees that switch from HealthNet to Kaiser.
Status of SCTA Negotiations: District has offered Enhanced Proposal
The following describes the district’s proposal and the enhancements that have been added since Saturday. The enhancements proposed today are noted in boldface:
Pay Increases
- Ongoing 2% salary increase starting in the 2021-22 school year.
One-Time Bonuses
- Enhanced proposal (March 27): Increasing to 3% (up from 2%) one-time stipend for 2021-2022;
- Enhanced proposal (March 28): Increasing to 1.5% (up from 1%) one-time stipend for 2020-2021;
- Enhanced proposal (March 28): Increasing to 1.5% (up from 1%) one-time stipend for 2019-2020.
- Enhanced proposal (March 27): Increasing signing bonus to $3,000 (up from $2,000) for new employees hired into a certificated position on or before September 15, 2022 for the 2022-23 school year.
Increased Pay for Substitute Teachers
- Increase substitute teacher daily rate by 25% for substitutes who filled in for absent teachers during the 2021-22 school year.
More Professional Development
- Offer three (3) additional paid days for professional learning, which increases salaries an additional 1.65% for 2022-23.
Health Coverage
- 100% health coverage through Kaiser provided for all-SCTA represented employees and all their immediate family members at no cost to employees.
- Enhanced proposal (March 27): For one year, the district will pay one-hundred (100%) percent – up from 80% – of the difference between the cost of health coverage offered through Kaiser and the cost of a HealthNet plan for those employees that chose to continue HealthNet coverage.
- Employees that already have health coverage can opt to receive $3,000 per year ($250 per month) in-lieu of receiving this coverage through the district.
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Enhanced proposal (March 27):
- $3,000 stipend for moving from HealthNet to Kaiser
- Begin discussions on additional health care plan choices at the same cost as the Kaiser plan.
Status of SEIU Negotiations
Separately, the district met with SEIU’s negotiating team on Tuesday to discuss our proposal to increase compensation for SEIU-represented employees. The district negotiations team has agreed to meet again with SEIU on Tuesday morning. SEIU’s current response to the district is:
“SEIU Local 1021 seeks equity and social justice for all classified workers recognized by the District having lower paying salaries. To that end SEIU proposes improvements in a total overall economic package that meets or exceeds the agreement with SCTA.”
Here is an overview of the district’s proposal to SEIU:
Employee Compensation
- 2% ongoing salary increase, effective July 1, 2022
- $1,000 one-time stipend for 2020-21
- $1,500 one-time stipend for 2021-22
- $1,000 one-time stipend for 2022-23
Bus Driver Incentives
- $2,000 Recruitment and Signing Bonus for new bus drivers who complete the SCUSD training program for bus drivers for the 2022-23 school year.
- $2,000 Recruitment and Signing Bonus for SEIU members who refer a new bus driver who provides service to the district in the 2022-23 school year.
- $5,000 signing bonus for new bus driver employees who are fully licensed to drive a bus. In order to receive the signing bonus, the employee must provide service to the District for the entire 2022-23 school year.
By offering equal dollar amount stipends to SEIU, instead of the percentage-based stipends we’re offering to SCTA, we are offering our hourly paid employees significantly more money than what they would receive from a stipend based 1-2% of their annual salary. To match the proposed SCTA percentage-based stipend would result in a lower dollar amount for most of our SEIU-represented employees. Contrary to a percentage-based stipends, these dollar-amount stipends reflect our commitment to equity and social justice for all employees. The district’s negotiations team has asked SEIU to please clarify the improvements it wants in the overall economic package in the contract and the equity changes they are proposing.
The district is committed to continue separate negotiations with SEIU and SCTA in order to reach agreements with both bargaining groups. Until then, we encourage SCTA and SEIU to suspend their strike and let our students get back to school.