The State of the (Public) Unions

The dramatic showdown between the governor of Wisconsin and the state’s public employee unions has highlighted the controversy that surrounds union membership among government employees.

As in other locations across the country, public employee unions in Moorpark have become a part of our local and state government. Locally, the largest public employee unions are affiliated with employees from four groups: the city of Moorpark, public school teachers, classified school employees and faculty from Moorpark College. Altogether, union membership in Moorpark among these four unions is estimated at about 1,100 employees.

Local public employee unions in Moorpark exist under a broader national and international coalition. City of Moorpark employees are members of Local 721 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Moorpark public school teachers are members of the Moorpark Educators Association (MEA), which is part of the California Teachers Association and the National Education Association. Classified school employees are members of the California School Employees Association (CSEA), which is part of the AFL-CIO. And Moorpark College faculty are members of the Ventura County Federation of College Teachers, Local AFT 1828, which is part of the California Federation of Teachers through the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the AFL-CIO.

Membership for three Moorpark unions (MEA, CSEA and AFT) is voluntary, but all employees have some form of union fee (usually termed a “fair share fee”) deducted from their paychecks. The reasoning is that all employees, whether union or nonunion, are represented at the bargaining table during contract negotiations.

Should an employee opt out of union membership, each union handles its fair share fee deduction differently. For example, according to a Memo of Understanding between SEIU 721 and the city of Moorpark, only those employees who are members of a “bona fide religion, body, or sect that has historically held conscientious objections to joining or financially supporting public employee organizations shall not be required to join or financially support local 721.”

If an employee at the Moorpark school district or the city of Moorpark opts out of union membership, his or her fair share fees can be contributed toward several local charities designated in their contracts.

If a faculty member at Moorpark Community College opts out of union membership, he or she is eligible for a rebate program that refunds the percentage of his or her fair share fees designated for political activities.

The management of pension and retirement benefits can swing greatly between public employee unions. The city of Moorpark contributes 7 percent toward each union employee’s retirement. AFT, MEA, and CSEA pension benefits are handled either by CalSTRS (California State Teacher’s Retirement System) or CalPERS (California Public Employees Retirement System). Most teacher retirement pensions average about 50 percent of their normal pay. In the case of Moorpark’s public school employees, individuals contribute 8 percent toward their own retirement plan. It’s important to note that public teachers, school employees and state college faculty neither pay into nor receive Social Security retirement benefits.

Public employee unions exist for the same reasons private unions do: contract negotiations for wages, retirement and health benefits, and working conditions, including proper grievance procedures.

The major difference is that with public employee unions, these things are funded through taxpayer dollars and the funding pool is usually limited. Unlike private business, there’s no profit margin to deal with.

Teresa Williams, assistant superintendent of personnel/instructional services for the Moorpark Unified School District, has been involved in negotiations with the local chapters of the MEA and the CSEA. From her experience, she believes it’s important for both sides to understand the data at hand and be willing to negotiate on that basis.

“The fact that we have less money, and with the issues that the union is normally concerned with, it means we must educate them,” Williams states, “which means that we must provide them data and be transparent.”

For Williams, contract negotiations all come down to trust. And trust results from regular meetings and discussions about relevant employee concerns.

“The one way to establish trust,” she said, “is to meet with them on a regular basis and talk about issues.”

According to Deborah Traffenstedt, Moorpark's deputy city manager, when an issue arises between the city and the union, both parties may engage in extensive research prior to sitting down at the table.

“We’re looking at what else is happening in other cities in Ventura County,” she said, “and other cities of comparable size and population.”

As with the school district, negotiations depend on information and data exchange and some flexibility is understood to be a part of the process. Traffenstedt believes that this has resulted in a more cooperative relationship between the city and the union during contract talks.

“It’s not that every person is getting what they want. It’s a back and forth,” she said.

For most public employees, unions are like life insurance—there in the background, available when needed.

“I think probably the average person doesn’t think about it all the time,” said Mark Westerline, a vector/animal control specialist for the city. “When I think about it is when we go to negotiate a contract.”

He knows that perceptions of public employee unions vary greatly, as witnessed by the conflict in Wisconsin. But, in his work in Moorpark, he feels the relationship between the city and the SEIU is both reasonable and flexible.

“Our union has always negotiated well with the city,” he said. “I think they’ve been very fair in the past and now everyone is working together to keep costs down. I don’t think that we’ve ever had too much of an adversarial relationship.”

For Will Donley, a Moorpark school district instructor currently on special assignment, the MEA provides public school teachers a voice at the table.

He noted that, prior to the passage of the RODDA Act in California in 1976, teachers’ salaries, benefits and working conditions were completely subject to the discretion of the school board and its administration.

Donley remembers some less than desirable conditions under which teachers labored. He said the birth of the teachers’ union “was the first time teachers were able to negotiate with the school district.”

In addition to salaries, many innovations now considered standard to a teacher’s working conditions all had to be individually bargained for—things like length of time in a class, limitations on extra duty assignments, prep periods, planning time and tenure.

He admits the relationship between the district and the union has sometimes been confrontational. But these days, with school districts facing severe cuts, he believes that school districts and unions have had to learn how to cooperate. The current educational conditions in the district are the result of a new willingness to communicate and work together.

“They’re the best things we’ve come up with to be able to sit down and work out a good system to educate students,” said Donley.

Gillian Dale, a retired English instructor at Moorpark College, believes the union has a significant role in maintaining a quality education for community college students.

“The Community College District receives the money and we negotiate with the district over how to divide up those monies within the district,” she said.

Monies, she pointed out, that determine not only salaries and benefits, but things like class size and scheduling.

Dale believes having union-negotiated tenure and job security also allows college faculty to speak up when they disagree with administrative policies that might negatively impact students.

“The teacher’s working conditions are also the student’s learning conditions,” she said.

Westerline, the city animal control specialist, is aware of the intense public discussions taking place regarding the existence of public employee unions. He notes, however, that public employee unions are approaching contract negotiations with a renewed sense of flexibility. Much as private unions have had to relinquish some of their hard won benefits, so public employees are also engaged in a process of give and take.

“Most people in unions do have to make compromises with their employers, especially these days,” he said.