Dear Bargaining Unit 2 Member,
CASE is pleased to announce that the membership has ratified the tentative agreement with the State on a one-year Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”). Approximately 60% of all eligible members participated in the election and overwhelmingly approved the tentative agreement with 95% voting “Yes” for approval. The membership’s support of the contract reflects the fact that most members preferred a short-term contract while we continue to work toward reducing the long-standing salary deficit faced by all of the State’s legal professionals. We understand that there is more work to do and hope to build on this year’s bargaining to improve family leave, equalize judicial and attorney salaries, and establish competitive salaries for CASE members that will keep the best legal professionals working for the State.
The MOU must now also be ratified by both houses of the Legislature and signed by the Governor before it takes effect. The MOU is contained in Assembly Bill 118. We have worked very hard to ensure that the bill gets through the legislature under extremely short deadlines because the legislative session ends September 13th and doesn’t begin again until January 2020. As a result of those efforts, the bill was passed by the Senate earlier today. It then completed the concurrence process and was passed unanimously by the Assembly. It now moves on to the Governor’s desk for signing. We do not anticipate any problem with getting the Governor’s signature since the tentative agreement was made with his representatives. If the MOU is signed by the Governor without delay, the 2.75% General Salary Increase should be reflected in the pay warrant at the end of October. The retroactive pay and healthcare supplement (back to July 1, 2019) will be reflected in a separate pay warrant or separate line in one of the pay warrants later this year. We will keep you updated with any information about the ratification process as it proceeds.
As always, your support of CASE and your colleagues in Bargaining Unit 2 is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
The CASE Board of Directors