Bargaining Team Met. The newly-seated CAPS Bargaining Team (CAPS Team) met with the State’s Team last week to resume contract negotiations. The CAPS Team brought the new CalHR Labor Relations Officer (LRO) up to speed with two presentations relaying the importance of the work CAPS Scientists do for the State of California.
Presentations. The first presentation, titled “Why Science?” conveyed the critical work State Scientists perform to protect Californians, including from a polluted environment, declining species populations, and a virus-challenged citizenry, etc. You can view the (confidential) slides from the “Why Science?” presentation here.
The second presentation, “Avoiding Collapse,” provided the State’s Team with an understanding of some of the major threats human activities pose to the environment, animals, and people of California, and articulated why State Scientists’ work is uniquely vital for Californians, and the world. The presentation adapts aspects of the “Scientific Consensus on Maintaining Humanity’s Life Support Systems in the 21st Century: Information for Policy Makers” and information from recent publications. You can view the slides from “Avoiding Collapse” here.
Advocating for Salaries. The CAPS Team continued the discussions around CAPS’ top priority: State Scientists’ salaries. The CAPS Team provided the State’s Team with a summary of all the work completed during the nearly two years of previous negotiation. The CAPS Team reiterated the methodology utilized in the Interest-Based Bargaining (IBB) process to show the large lags in State Scientists’ salaries. The CAPS Team briefed the State’s Team on the process whereby the “story,” “interests,” and potential “options,” were arrived at by both teams, and the eventual whittling down process to narrow the “options” to only those that might be acceptable to both parties. The CAPS Team pressed to continue focusing on State Scientists’ salaries, as they remain State Scientists’ most significant concern. With another record budget surplus anticipated – in stark contrast to what the CAPS Team was told in early 2020 – now is the best time to address the long standing salary lags.
Remaining Sections of the CAPS MOU. Both teams compared notes regarding which sections of the CAPS MOU were still “on the table” to negotiate for a successor MOU. As the CAPS Team has shared in the past, all sections of the last CAPS MOU must be renegotiated when bargaining for a successor MOU. That renegotiation can include “rollovers,” or leaving a section of the CAPS MOU exactly the same as it was in the previous contract, or the negotiation of agreed-upon changes to the language. You can view the sections of the successor CAPS MOU that have been tentatively agreed to (or “TA’d”), on the CAPS website here. You can also view proposals that have been made during this round of bargaining by the CAPS Team here.
Order of Priority. The Teams additionally took the opportunity to discuss how to move forward in negotiations in the coming weeks, and which topics would be important to discuss in the near future. The Teams agreed to meet again in early February. A topic schedule was not set, but the Teams are planning to continue discussions on telework first.
We Need Your Input. The CAPS Team feels strongly that your input is necessary to make clear to the State why State Scientists are essential for California’s continued well-being as an ecological, agricultural, and economic powerhouse. Please share with the Bargaining Team what your immediate needs are with regard to specific topics covered (or not covered) by the CAPS MOU, and/or ways in which your work helps California and the world “Avoid Collapse” of our life-support systems. Letters can be sent to caps@capsscientists.org.