Clad in purple, thousands of state employees partied with a purpose at the Capitol on Wednesday, hoping to prod Gov. Jerry Brown to accept their union’s contract proposal that, among other things, would raise their pay 22 percent.
“This is not going to be easy,” Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker told the crowd gathered on the Capitol’s west lawn. “But there’s no quit in Local 1000.”
That line was among many that prompted hollers, chants and clapping from what the union estimated was about 8,000 members. There is little, however, to indicate the union will get its wish. Brown has come to terms with four state unions so far, and none of those multi-year agreements has approached that kind of salary hike. State employee labor contracts often run for three years, but it’s unclear over how many years the proposed 22 percent raise would be distributed.
Furthermore, the governor’s 2016-17 budget proposal allots an average 3.4 percent pay increase for the nearly 180,000 state employees whose salaries have yet to be set at the bargaining table. Local 1000 represents roughly half of them, and their contract expires the first day of the new fiscal year, July 1.
