NEWS

Tell Steinberg NO! on pension gutting

Stand up for your pension now!

On the heels of GOP legislators submitting a budget that would cut pay for all state workers, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg has said that drastically changing public employee pensions is the "right thing to do", and should be done in 2012.

Take one minute of your day to send a united message against unfair pension reform by emailing, faxing, or reading by phone the following message to Senate President Pro Tem Steinberg:

State Capitol, Room 205
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 651-4006
Fax: (916) 323-2263
Email: Senator.Steinberg@senate.ca.gov

Senator Steinberg;

I am a state excluded employee and member of the Association of California State Supervisors.

Like many of my fellow voters, I support Gov. Brown's temporary revenue increases to balance the budget, but refuse to do so if it means destroying my hard-earned, modest benefits.

I urge you to reconsider extreme pension reform as a means to passing those crucial temporary revenue increases.

I support eliminating the very rare instances of abuse like "spiking", but I cannot support a plan that relies on risky 401(k) investments and drastic retirement age increases.

I have planned carefully for my retirement, and have done my part to keep working for the future of California even as Gov. Brown's predecessor slashed my pay by 14%.

Please don't balance the budget on the backs of public employees yet again.

Your name, Job Title
Contact Info

ACSS Quarterly: Arriving soon!

Keep an eye on your mailbox for the newest edition of ACSS Quarterly, featuring articles on Lobby Day 2012, upcoming changes at CSEA, and more!

In the meantime, feel free to browse through last quarter's issue on our news page.

Help us spread the word about ACSS to your workplace

One of the most frequent calls we receive here at ACSS are from supervisors or managers needing emergency representation who are not already members.

Unfortunately, we cannot help in these situations because our bylaws state that you must be a member of ACSS before a problem arises in order for our labor relations team to assist you. Generally, these excluded employees haven't heard about ACSS until they need us, and at that point it is too late.

In order to prevent this from happening - and to continue building the power of our statewide political voice - we're trying to make it easier for future ACSS members to get pertinent information about ACSS at work.

ACSS is sending representatives out into your worksites to find the best location for a bulletin board. While you wait for your lunch to heat up in the microwave or for that elevator, you and your co-workers will have a chance to peruse meeting notices, learn about your rights as an excluded employee, and who to contact in case of those rights being violated.

If you are interested in helping us find the best location to hang a bulletin board where you work, or you'd be willing to update the board for us, please contact ACSS Labor Relations Representative Regina Jenkins at rjenkins@calcsea.org.

GOP wants to slash your pay 4.6%

In order to fix California's budget defecit, ACSS supports Gov. Brown's temporary, modest revenue increases.

Republican legislators think they've found a better way to balance the budget - by slashing your salary yet again.

No, you didn't suddenly wake up in the middle of the Schwarzenegger administration again; however, if you and your family aren't voting to pass Gov. Brown's modest revenue increases on the General Eleciton ballot you may soon be feeling "Total Recall".

The GOP budget plan - which would unilaterally force at least 4.6% pay cuts on state employees in the form of furloughs or salary reductions - also includes provisions to siphon millions of dollars away from early childhood development programs, affordable housing programs, and mental health services.

Read more about Gov. Brown's solution to the budget deficit after the jump.

Public Employee Bill of Rights passed to Appropriations

The Assembly Committee on Public Employees, Retirement and Security voted today in favor of legislation that will, among other things, impact the timeline of adverse actions and will give priority to state employees when filling public positions.

In February, Assemblymember Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento) introduced Assembly Bill 1655 - dubbed the Public Employees' Bill of Rights Act - that would reduce the statute of limitations on serving an adverse action against any state employee from three years to one year. In addition, the bill stipulates that state employees shall be entitled to priority over third-party contractors when filling public positions.

The original version of Assm. Dickinson's bill gave rank-and-file state employees preference in filling positions ahead of excluded employees (in addition to outside contractors); however, Assm. Dickinson has since revised the bill to remove the reference to excluded employees.

Read more about how AB 1655 will affect supervisors and managers after the jump.

ACSS elections: upcoming materials

ACSS 2012 Chapter Elections are ramping up yet again.

As members were previously notified, the deadline to submit nomination consent forms and candidate statements was March 26th at 5 p.m.

The next step in the elections process will be HQ sending out elections packets - including candidate statements, ballots, instructions, and more - to all ACSS members in good standing no later than April 20th.

This is your chance to elect who will lead you at a local level and who will represent your chapter at key events.

Have questions regarding elections in the meantime? Contact ACSS Administrative Assistant Martina McKenzie at mmckenzie@calcsea.org

ACSS awards Assm. Buchanan

State supervisors and managers from a multitude of departments joined ACSS President Arlene Espinoza at Lobby Day 2012 in recogonizing Assemblymember Joan Buchanan for her work on behalf of excluded employees.

President Espinoza presented Assm. Buchanan with a custom mounted and engraved antique scale at the recognition ceremony, declaring "For far too long this state has balanced its budget on the backs of employees that are excluded from collective bargaining."

"One legislator in particular has dedicated her time and efforts to attempting to correct the imbalanced policies that unfairly target management employees," she continued.

"It is our sincerest hope that she will continue to fight with the Association of California State Supervisors to end pay inequity between supervisors and those they supervise, to protect our earned benefits, and to encourage the state to better support its most skilled employees."

President Espinoza presented Assm. Buchanan with a 150-year-old antique balancing scale, representing not only the state's history of imbalanced policies against excluded employees, but also symbolizing Assm. Buchanan's work to correct those imbalances.

Lobby Day - The fight for your rights

Though the weather may not have cooperated, Lobby Day 2012 proved to be a great success for ACSS members and for excluded employees statewide.

Supervisors and managers from all over the state braved the cold and rain and spent the day meeting with legislators and explaining how attacks on the careers and benefits of excluded employees would affect them personally.

Our largest turnout in history guaranteed that the entire Capitol heard the voice of ACSS calling on legislators to protect our pensions, support revenue increases, and defeat political censorship of non-partisan groups.

Head to our Lobby Day page now to see photos of the event.

Get ready for continued political action throughout the coming months, and we look forward to seeing even more of you next year!

Brown and CFT reach revenue compromise

Since proposing his revenue increase ballot measure, Gov. Brown has been working to convince several groups to drop duplicate or additional revenue increase measures from the 2012 General Election ballot.

One of the longest holdouts - the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) - finally agreed to a compromise with Gov. Brown after months of debate.

The revised ballot measure will now raise sales tax by a mere quarter cent, as opposed to the half cent increase proposed in Brown's original plan.

In addition, the revised measure includes slightly higher taxes on high income households - in particular the top 1% of all earners in California.

Your ACSS is dedicated to supporting Gov. Brown's revenue increases - and those revenue increases alone - in order to avoid catastrophic cuts to education and further layoffs within CDCR.

ALERT: Airtime costs may increase after March 15th

Your ACSS has received an urgent message from CalPERS related to an upcoming hike in additional retirement service credit - also known as "airtime" - purchase costs.

According to CalPERS, If you are considering purchasing airtime in the near future, you may want to put in a request before March 15th.

For requests received after March 15th, CalPERS has stated that the cost to purchase airtime could be as much as 13% higher (on top of a 23% increase in 2010).

You may obtain additional information at www.calpers.ca.gov or by logging in at www.mycalpers.com

Disclaimer: Please note that this information and the suggestion to purchase airtime now was provided by CalPERS, and is not intended as an official recommendation to do so by ACSS.