The bill is going up

Ted Somera, executive director United Public Employees Local No. 1, said salary increases would be lost to higher pension payments, which will be particularly hard after employees suffered through the recession without salary increases and more work due to layoffs.

California counties demand employees pay half their pension contribution.

Two years ago, California passed the “California Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act” which gave local governments five years to make employees to pay 50% of their pension contribution. That means for an employee making $50,000 a year, his or her contribution would roughly double from about $2,500 to $5,000 a year.

Almost 6,500 Sacramento County employees – or 62 percent of county staff – have been working without a contract for more than eight months, and the biggest reason is that they don’t want to pay higher contribution rates, according to county labor negotiator Robert Bonner and union leaders.

Ted Somera, executive director of the county’s biggest union, United Public Employees Local No. 1, said the math doesn’t pencil out for his members.

“We’re not objecting to paying more,” he said. “But it’s too much, too soon.” He said any salary increases would be lost to higher pension payments, which will be particularly hard after employees suffered through the recession without salary increases and more work due to layoffs.

UPE employees recently walked off the job and crowded the Board of Supervisors chambers, and the lobby outside, to protest the county’s contract position. While the employees returned to work the next day, Somera said they have voted to authorize a strike if negotiations fail.

Ten county unions are working without contracts, including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Service Employees International Union and the Sacramento County Management Association.

Eight county unions have agreed to contracts that call for employees to match employer contributions by 2018, Bonner said. Three of the unions represent public safety employees, including sheriff’s deputies, who have the county’s most generous pension benefits. County contributions are higher for public safety employees, who can retire earlier and with a higher percentage of their salary than other employees.