Special Message from SEIU Local 721 President Bob Schoonover
As President of SEIU Local 721, I’m happy to deliver some good news to you today. We did it! Furloughs are now officially OFF the table with the City of Los Angeles!
Since the beginning of this crisis, our union has worked non-stop to identify any and all alternatives to furloughs – because at the end of the day we don’t believe in Furloughs, we believe in our ability to flex our union power and come up with ideas that will have the least negative impact on our hard-working members.
As part of our extensive work with the Coalition of City Unions, SEIU 721 has successfully negotiated a Letter of Agreement with the CAO to create additional savings for the City of Los Angeles.
These are savings on top of those we successfully achieved earlier this summer. These new savings are enough to push the City of L.A. to postpone any thought of furloughs until after January 17, 2021.
The main elements of this agreement are:
- Each employee will take an unpaid day on November 3, 2020 and another unpaid day on April 2, 2021, except in operations where minimum staffing levels must be maintained, employees will be paid for hours worked.
- You will receive a one-time paid eight (8) hour floating holiday during fiscal year 2020-21.
- The excess sick leave cash payout due in January 2021 will be deferred to January 2022 and will be paid at the wage in effect when the payout is made.
As this pandemic and the subsequent economic downfall continues to be our reality, we must stand union strong and always push our elected leaders to finds ways to safeguard working people.
Our SEIU International Union continues to urge leaders in Washington to appropriate much needed funding for local governments to help get our local cities and counties through this economic crisis. Your vote in the upcoming election matters now more than ever before. Ballots will be arriving next week.
I strongly urge you to support the candidates and propositions that our union has officially endorsed so that we can continue to safeguard our jobs and the vital services our City of Angels depends on. You can find our union’s voter guide here: https://www.seiu721.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/SEIU-721-LA-OC-Member-Voter-Guide-NEW-version-9-18-2020.pdf
Make sure to use these guides when casting your ballot and mail your ballot back as soon as possible.
Together we will win!
In solidarity,
President Bob Schoonover
Thank you local 721 for working to avoid furloughs.I have explained to my unon brothers and sisters the union is only as strong as we all participate.Please give yourselfa a pat on your back for a job well done.