CAPS Seeks YOUR Input. At lot has happened since CAPS sent out an initial Bargaining Survey on January 28, 2020. The first official bargaining session was held three months following the release of that survey, in March 2020. CAPS once again requests your input and wants to hear YOUR voice. This survey poses questions the CAPS Team has determined are necessary to help them continue the Interest-Based Bargaining process which requires feedback from our respective constituents.
The CAPS Team is bargaining to restore the unit-wide, logical, historical pay relationships that previously existed until they were disrupted in 2005, 2014, and 2018.
2005: Unit 9 secured a 5-year Memorandum of Understanding with the Davis Administration shortly before he was recalled. In that MOU, increases were based on a single classification comparable (Transportation Engineer) to that of Civil Engineers in California local governments. These were applied across their Unit. See the history between Water Resources Engineer, Range C (R09) and Environmental Scientist, Range C (R10) here.
2014: The Brown Administration executed a Pay Letter that fully funded the decision resulting from the Like Pay for Like Work Lawsuit (based on Government Code 19826) only for fourteen Unit 10 Supervisory classifications listed in the court case. See the history between Senior Environmental Scientist (Specialist) (R10) and Senior Environmental Specialist (Supervisor) (S10) here.
2018: The Brown administration executed another Pay Letter that adjusted the salaries of two of three Supervisory Toxicologist Classifications. The Pay Letter was funded in late 2018 shortly after the CAPS 2018-2020 MOU was ratified. See the comparison between Staff Toxicologist (Specialist) (R10) and Senior Toxicologist (S10) here.
These actions caused a disruption in horizontal salary relationships between peers (based on Government Code 19826), and in vertical salary relationships between supervisors and the staff they supervise (based on the State’s internal guidance). Further, these disruptions affect recruitment, retention, morale and continue today.
These and other salary comparables, with Federal counterparts for example, show that all Unit 10 Rank-and-File State Scientists have salary lags.
The restoration of the logical salary relationships that recognizes minimum qualifications, level of responsibility, and experience is necessary for Unit 10. The CAPS Team developed a framework using benchmarks (representative classes), as an organizational tool to explain the historical salary structure for Unit 10 based on the following benchmark classifications:
Bachelor’s Level: Environmental Scientist and Senior Environmental (Scientist) are the representative classifications utilized for this benchmark. The Senior level is added to recognize that many of the classes that would fall under this benchmark have a technical expert level. Any class that requires a Bachelor’s degree within the minimum qualifications falls within this benchmark.
Master’s Level: Research Scientist III is the representative classification for this benchmark. Any classification that requires a Master’s degree within the minimum qualifications falls within this benchmark.
Doctorate Level: Staff Toxicologist (Specialist) is the representative classification for this benchmark. Any classification that requires a Doctorate degree within the minimum qualifications falls within this benchmark.
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) Level: Veterinarian (General), Range D is the representative classification for this benchmark. Any classification that requires a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine within the minimum qualifications falls within this benchmark.
The CAPS Bargaining Team understands that fair pay has been and continues to be the top priority for Unit 10 members. Your answers to the questions in this survey will assist the CAPS Team in proceeding through the next steps of the Interest-Based Bargaining Process, which requires feedback from each Team’s respective constituents.
Only member responses will be reviewed. Encourage your colleagues to sign up to join CAPS here: https://capsscientists.org/application/.
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