By admin 
The California Department of Human Resources on Wednesday confirmed it did not meet and confer with state scientists before their raises went unfunded last month — a condition of a side letter agreement made last year between the state and the scientists’ union.
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Paul Starkey, deputy director of labor relations for CalHR, revealed the shortcoming before the state Senate Subcommittee on Corrections, Public Safety, Judiciary, Labor and Transportation during an informational hearing to determine how the raises went unfunded.
In the California Association Professional Scientists, UAW Local 1115’s contract, state scientists were scheduled to receive special salary adjustments on July 1 ranging from 3% to 5%. However, even though the contract was ratified by the Legislature and Governor’s Office, the raises were not included in the budget.
The Governor’s Office previously said the raises were contingent on the Legislature funding the proposal that, according to a legislative analyst’s report, would have cost the general fund roughly $8.6 million.
The subcommittee’s chair, state Sen. Laura Richardson, D-San Pedro, asked how the raises flew under the radar, given it was a previously agreed upon deal. Nick Schroeder, an analyst with the Legislative Analyst’s Office, said the Department of Finance didn’t include the raises in the budget nor give direct notice of its absence, saying the only indication of unfunded raises was the omission itself.
Schroeder also said eliminating raises was not included in a list of solutions to fix California’s financial trajectory as an $18 billion deficit was projected by legislative analysts this January. California saw a surge in projected revenues — an estimated $25 billion higher than what was initially expected — in part due to artificial intelligence, according to previous Sacramento Bee reporting, closing the deficit for the next two years.
Representatives from DOF, including Program Budget Manager Rosanna Nguyen, also testified and confirmed the department didn’t include the raises in its proposal to the Legislature.
State does not require the Legislature to fund raises, according to Starkey, but it opens the door to renegotiate union contracts, bringing forth questions about the strength these deals have if the state doesn’t follow through with promised funding.
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“It seems like ignoring a negotiated contract is as easy as choosing not to fund what you negotiated and agreed to in (a contract), so what good is the process if that’s all it takes?” said state Sen. Kelly Seyarto, R-Murrieta, during the hearing.
Starkey told lawmakers CalHR first informed the union raises were in jeopardy due to California’s financial strain by negotiating the side letter, which was signed in August of last year. They agreed upon included cost savings, like eliminating a telework stipend and also set guidelines if raises went unfunded, like requiring CalHR meet and confer with CAPS-UAW on or before July 1.
Starkey said the budget was approved at the last minute, which made it difficult to meet with the union, which represents about 5,000 employees. The union was informed of the shift on June 30.
“That would have been an impossibility because we didn’t know what the budget held,” Starkey said.
This isn’t the only case of last-minute communication between CalHR and state worker unions to unfold this summer. The state informed another union, SEIU Local 1000, that nine of its contract proposals were rejected the same day the previous agreement expired, according to a filing by SEIU Local 1000 with the Public Employment Relations Board.
Both Richardson and Seyarto said they intend to advocate on behalf of state scientists to get their raises.
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