After one-year of negotiations, Riverside County submitted their “last best” and final offer on July 19th–and it’s sickening. It’s sickening that the County has decided to take deliberate steps that will weaken public services, and hurt the recruitment and retention of dedicated skilled frontline workers. The County demonstrates once again they have no real interest in making lasting investments in the key services we provide and the communities we serve.
At every step they’ve chosen to balance their budgets on the backs of frontline workers while bleeding out our taxpayer coffers on shady multi-million dollar Wall Street deals and sweet-heart consulting contracts like the one with KPMG. The County has rejected our common good proposals to cut the revenue waste and provide more badly needed County services.
After one year of bargaining and reckless moves this is the “best” the County is saying they can do.
The County has rejected the following strategies to increase and improve the quality of much needed services:
- Our proposal to hire and retain more qualified professionals to deliver badly needed behavioral health services.
- Our goal of reducing wait times at behavioral facilities so we can quickly serve community members who are in dire need of mental services.
- Our plan to increase staff levels to lower wait times throughout RUHS Medical/Hospital services to 30 minutes. Currently, a patient on average spends 60 minutes in the ER before being seen by a doctor.
- Our proposition to stop the costly outsourcing in RUHS facilities. The County is approaching the chronic understaffing at our hospitals by relying on expensive “traveler nurses” that are bleeding the county dry and bringing down the quality of patient care! Our proposition sought to move the County to decrease the use of contract employees/traveler nurses in RUHS Medical Facilities
On top of the County mismanaging its resources, and being tone-deaf to the real needs and services of our communities, they want to dig an even bigger hole in recruitment and retention by going after frontline workers!
They want us to pay up for our family’s health, wave goodbye to our step increases, and even cough up to park at our work facilities!
With these reckless cuts, the County is putting the lives and the dignity of the communities we serve in peril by driving away talent across facilities.
Health Benefit Contribution
- The County has proposed no increases in contributions to you and your family’s health plan despite the upcoming premium cost surges. Health care premiums for Exclusive Care, Kaiser Permanente, and United Care HMO and PPO are slated to increase anywhere from 2.4% to 21.6% in 2018. County employees are now expected to pay as much as $663.73 more per month for family coverage! Your paychecks will now be drastically shorter.
Raises
- 0% raise over the life of the contract! There will be no raises to offset the increase in health care premiums.
Step Increases
- Reduction in step increase from 5.42% to 2.71%. The small boost you look forward to every year will now be reduced.
- On top of the County wanting you to give up your step increases, settle for no raises, and leaving you to foot more of your health coverage bill, they also want you to pay them to show up to work! The County now wants you to pay to park at your worksite facilities.
WE’RE NOT BACKING DOWN FROM FIGHTING FOR A FAIR & JUST CONTRACT THAT RAISES UP RIVERSIDE COUNTY! CALL THE MEMBER CONNECTION AT 1-877-721-4YOU to SIGN UP FOR THE CRITICAL NEXT STEPS.