When Is an Equity Adjustment Appropriate?
Equity adjustments can be a subject for negotiations during collective bargaining of your contract. During contract negotiations, Local 21 members work together, support each other, and have a group interest in seeing their colleagues compensated appropriately for their hard work and expertise.

Equity adjustments can provide a useful mechanism to address wage inequities for job classifications that are out of alignment. The strongest cases are made when a team of colleagues works together to collectively engage in the research and proposal development process. However, equity adjustments may not always be the best solution to a compensation problem occurring in the workplace. Your Local 21 Representative and Research Department are available consult with you to discuss whether an equity adjustment may make sense.

Equity Adjustments in the City of Oakland

Bargaining between the City of Oakland and Local 21 is underway! The Union's bargaining team plans to address non-economic issues before bringing economic issues to the table. We expect this will leave sufficient time for groups and individuals seeking equity adjustments to research their cases and prepare their proposals and presentations.

Groups comprised of members from classifications seeking equity adjustments have begun to meet with Local 21's Research department to plan those next steps specific to their classifications. These classification-specific planning meetings ensure that groups working together receive the technical assistance they need to make a strong case, while also maintaining a coordinated approach to wage realignments across Local 21.

Three training sessions have been conducted in Oakland on Equity Adjustments since January 2008. Please contact Local 21's Research department for information on materials distributed at previous trainings, for technical assistance, or for coordinating a meeting with members of your classification interested in working together on the research process. In the meantime, groups that are moving forward with their research can use some of the documents below to gather relevant information.