Members Demand More Time to Bargain at Santa Clara Valley Water District

After months of hostile negotiations with the Santa Clara Valley Water District, Local 21 members filled a Board meeting on Monday, December 5, asking Directors for more time to bargain. Speakers reviewed recent movement from the bargaining table of Local 21’s Engineers Society (ES) and Professional Management Association (PMA) chapters.

Both MOUs expire December 31, and the District’s negotiators have taken a hard, unwavering stance on employee concessions over the three-and-a-half months of bargaining. The District threatened impasse on ES the last week of November, and would not commit to any more negotiation dates after that. Major holdups include the District’s attempt to take away binding arbitration from PMA.

At the Monday Board meeting, ES and PMA leaders spoke, as well as Local 21 Staff and South Bay Labor Council agents, including Working Partnership’s Bob Brownstein, Santa Clara County Democratic President Steve Preminger, and Mark Van Den Heuvel on behalf of the Labor Council.

After the Board meeting, District Negotiators contacted Local 21 Staff and set up one more bargaining session each for ES and PMA for December 6 and 7. We hope to come to an agreement by the next Board of Directors meeting on December 13.