OCEA contracts adopted by Board of Supervisors

Dear OCEA Member,

OCEA Contracts Adopted by Board of Supervisors!

The Board of Supervisors voted this morning to adopt the contract negotiated by your OCEA Bargaining Team and ratified by our members. This is the result we have been strategizing, organizing and fighting for since we began the bargaining process last summer. Your patience over the last six months, but most of all your willingness to hang tough in the face of great odds, is truly inspiring.

The ratification vote on Oct. 13th in favor of the contract demonstrates the support shown by you for your OCEA Bargaining Team and your Board of Directors.  Working people standing on principle is what made this deal happen.  Just 18-months ago, you refused to accept the misguided attempts on the part of a dysfunctional County negotiating team to walk back benefits gained in previously hard-won contracts. You stood together to overwhelmingly approve a bridge agreement that put money in your pockets and improved our negotiating position for bargaining that began earlier this year.

You stood on the principle that dedicated public health nurses, social workers, librarians and public safety personnel deserve fair wages for providing the government services we all need and want.

All of that sacrifice, hard work and patience has paid off in a contract we can all be proud of. You stood shoulder to shoulder to make sure you received the wages that you and your family deserve. That’s what you fought for and that’s what you won. Your strength and your perseverance were recognized today with the Board of Supervisors vote to adopt.  I commend and thank those members of the Board of Supervisors who did the right thing with their support for our contract.

I want to thank OCEA Board President Lezlee Neebe, the Board of Directors and our Bargaining Team for your strength and leadership. We could not have won this contract without everyone pulling together for fairness and justice in the workplace. 

Working people standing together, we did it. 


In Solidarity,

Charles Barfield, OCEA General Manager
Lead Negotiator

Publication Date: October 22, 2019