PRESIDENT'S WORD

Membership;

The vote that you cast over this weekend addressed a very important issue, the issue was how secure are our jobs in the future? Although we cannot predict what the future holds for us, we do have a Contract with the County that guarantees us a 1.5% COLA increase every six months, 5% increase on our annual step and all our soft monies till 2014 with an evergreen clause till 2015. We will resume getting holiday pay next October 2011. All of you had a very difficult decision to make; there was no wrong or right way to vote. It was not an easy decision for the board to bring this proposal to you for a vote. The fact remained that you the member wanted a vote on any salary concession. The membership will always have the final say and vote on how their Association proceeds.


Those members who want the Association to keep fighting for our rights; rest assured that the vote has not altered the way the board feels. Although the fight is no longer going to happen in arbitration, the association will explore other options to address this issue. The Association will do its due diligence and prepare throughout the year for this or any other battle the county is willing to bring to our door step.


The question of will the Association fight as hard for our jobs as they did for the Sgt’s position. The Association is committed to fight for any and all job classifications and member who loses his/her job. The association has proven it in the past few months, a deputy that got terminated got his job back, another deputy got acquitted on a felony case, a detention officer had his criminal case dismissed and there are still many more cases the Association is fighting. The Association does not see rank or the color of the uniform when it comes to its membership. All members are seen as equals in the Association.


There are some questions on how this will affect the membership; does the vote mean we have to take furlough days? No furlough days. If the holiday falls on your day off you will not receive an extra 8 hours of holiday pay. If you’re scheduled Monday thru Friday and the holiday falls during the week you will have to submit vacation time to get it off or work it. If you are brought in on O.T. you will receive O.T. pay. Will the National holidays be affected? All holidays covered under the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) will be affected. The proposal will start Oct. 1, 2010 and end on September 30, 2011; this would be for fiscal year 2011.

If you have more questions, please contact me or address them on the QNA tab on the website.


JMarrufo
President-EPCSOA