Home Contra Costa County District Attorney Association Supports Supervisor Salary Adjustment

District Attorney Association Supports Supervisor Salary Adjustment

by ECT

The following letter was written and submitted to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors by the President of the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Association regarding supervisor salary adjustments.

Dear Supervisors,

I am writing this letter to address what I perceive as a misrepresentation about local labor unions regarding the proposed salary adjustment for the Board of Supervisors. The article in the Contra Costa Times and several quotes from local labor leaders left the impression that “all” labor unions in Contra Costa County are opposed to a salary increase for the Board of Supervisors and that is not accurate. The Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Association understands the need for, and the rationale behind; the salary adjustment for the Board of Supervisors.

We recognize the necessity of competitive pay for all county employees, including the Board of Supervisors because we know Contra Costa County must remain competitive with other Bay Area Counties in order to retain qualified professional employees. This is not only an issue of fairness in compensation, but a step that needs to be taken to ensure that our County attracts the best and the brightest public servants year in and year out. As such, we support the alignment of the Board of Supervisors salaries with other similarly situation processionals in the Bay Area.

Sincerely,

Paul J. Graves

President
Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Association

 In a unanimous decision Tuesday, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors took the first step to repeal an ordinance that would have granted them a salary adjustment.

In November, supervisors voted 4 to 1 to adjust their own annual pay to be more commensurate with other Bay Area counties, from $97,000 to $129,000 per year—future pay raises would be tied to state employee salaries.

The Board of Supervisors agreed to moving forward with a repeal after nearly 40,000 signatures were collected as part of a petition drive and had it gone to the voters, would have cost the County $2.5 million.

The Board of Supervisors will come back next week and finalize the repeal while also hear alternatives regarding a future raise.

This letter by the District Attorney Association is in response to both the Contra Costa Times and Public Employees Union, Local 1 claiming the support is unanimous against a pay raise.

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6 comments

In 'da Know Jan 15, 2015 - 3:25 pm

ECT,

That is a well constructed letter from the DA’s association. As usual you have more info than all the other media outlets combined.
(I also heard a very unbiased report on KCBS earlier this week which played “every hour on the hour”).

Newsprint media needs a little friendly reminder that they are not the only game in town and cannot continue to get away with substituting opinion for reporting. It’s not acceptable and a primary cause of their spiraling demise into what amounts to an advertiser.

I can practically hear Danny B., Phil Hu and the press choking from here. It’s ok Dannyboy, I hear the unions are hiring people with your particular skill set. 😉

julio Jan 15, 2015 - 5:13 pm

I don’t argue the point of deserving an incremental raise adding up over time. I think the way they went about it was totally wrong and left everyone feeling hoodwinked. Certainly a lot of the county workers were shafted by the 33% raise and caviar when they have been given bread and water.

In 'da Know Jan 15, 2015 - 9:07 pm

Julio, not sure exactly what you are saying. Your comment appears to contradict itself; “I don’t argue the point of deserving an incremental raise adding up over time”. Well…….that’s exactly how they got to the 33 percent. The supervisors took NO raises, and actually gave a percentage back (just like the rest of the county workers) over the last 8 years. They were pretty much all treated the same. If the county workers were given bread and water over the last 8 years, then so were the supervisors. The situation appears that the supervisors adjustments didn’t have to be negotiated by law. The unions do.

The point that you “may” be missing is that the supervisors are non represented employees so they did not have to wait for a contract to come up before adjusting their pay. In this case increases/adjustments/raises are negotiated with the unions as their contract(s) come up.

The unions that drove this issue were not and are not in contract negotiations for at least another year, therefore they are not at the bargaining table. Some might say by pushing this issue, they will never know what they may have been offered. Now, because of this labor action against management (county supervisors) I doubt they will be getting much if anything when their contracts are up. It’s really hard to see it any other way. Say whatever you want, but its pretty much a given.

Too bad they didn’t realize when the people at the top tier get compensated it puts employees in a better position to bargain going forward. But that didn’t happen. Maybe the union bosses under estimated the possible backlash. It just wasn’t smart and eventually the union membership will put 2 and 2 together. No matter which side you are on, it kind of makes you wonder what were they thinking?

The firefighters figured it out. The District Attorney’s association figured it out. Possibly as more information comes to light, other people will too.

As for the cctimes, I doubt they ever will. Maybe when they finally go under, but I’m not holding my breath.

Fact Jan 15, 2015 - 8:21 pm

The DA received a nice raise too recently. Scratch my back, I scratch yours? The DA’s Office has had quite a bit of turmoil. I do not trust them either. So much for the corrupt politicians.

Bill Right Jan 15, 2015 - 8:28 pm

Looks like one county employees union trying to rub their nose at another county employee union. Let the fireworks begin. I love one union correcting another one who has made many stupid statements about 40,000 signatures where a final count will show lots of signatures not even counting. Another brilliant, yet nonfactual statement is “all” and “unanimous” oppose. I am a voter, I support the raise because one day I may want to be a county supervisor.

Thanks to the DA Association, the mouth pieces of Local 1 got caught with their pants down. Does Local 1 think the public is stupid, they want to assault the Supervisors and using the newspaper to ensure whatever changes are made it benefits workers to ensure raises each year. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way.

Don Flunnk Jan 15, 2015 - 8:29 pm

I think this letter pretty much shows the ignorance of the CC Times Editorial Board. No wonder why the Times if ailing, they can’t even get opinion pieces correct when it doesn’t even have to be factual.

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