Santa Cruz city workers represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 521 voted to approve a tentative agreement with the city on Monday.
The union said 93% of voting members approved the three-year contract that the union and city had negotiated since the early summer, and announced on Nov. 4.
The new contract includes 13.5% cost-of-living adjustments spread over the next three years and additional pay for bilingual workers and workers with a long tenure with the city. The contract also includes a reduction in retirement contributions that workers have to pay. Currently, the workers’ required contribution to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System is 11% per pay period. By the end of the contract, that will be reduced to 8.5%. The contract will also include new safety measures, including paid trauma leave, providing a full day of paid leave if a worker has a traumatic experience while on duty.
SEIU City of Santa Cruz chapter president and parking services employee Ken Bare said the agreement will address safety concerns that have long worried city employees. “By strengthening public safety for our workforce, accountability of management, and resolving the impact of harmful or traumatic incidents, the benefits of this contract are shared by both the workforce and the community,” he said in a news release.
The workers had sounded the alarm on working conditions, wages, staffing levels and employee retention in recent months, going so far as to threaten to strike.
The city agreed to implement salary benchmarks to keep pace with the region’s cost of living, and to provide a path for almost 400 temporary workers to become permanent employees with the goal of preventing understaffing.
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