BREAKING NEWS: MEA AND CITY REACH TENTATIVE AGREEMENT FOR NEW 3-YEAR LABOR CONTRACT
In a closed session meeting yesterday, the City Council approved Mayor Gloria’s recommendation to support a new 3-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with MEA effective July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2029.
Next will be a vote of MEA’s membership in an upcoming ratification process. As explained below, your elected Negotiating Team will recommend a YES vote to support this contract. If MEA’s membership agrees by ratifying this Tentative Agreement, the City Council will then confirm their final legislative approval in an open session meeting and the new MOU will take effect on July 1, 2026.
The highlights of this Tentative Agreement include real gains for employees in salary (nearly 10% pay raise over three years), flexible benefit increases, and a highly valuable new retiree health medical benefit for all MEA-represented benefitted employees hired on or after July 1, 2005!
In recognition of the City’s significant budget deficits projected for this coming fiscal year and next, there is also a temporary concession in the form of a 40-hour mandatory unpaid furlough in each of the first two years of the TA.
Though this 3-year agreement will not prevent further service and position cuts as the Mayor and City Council undertake the challenge of balancing this year’s budget, it will provide stability and guaranteed economic improvements for employees in times of great uncertainty.
The specific components of the Tentative Agreement are:
General Salary Increases: 3-year total of 9.5% (9.83% with compounding)
July 1, 2026: 2%
July 1, 2027: 3.5%
July 1, 2028: 2%
January 1, 2029: 2%
Mandatory Furlough and Discretionary Leave Days:
- A mandatory unpaid 40-hour furlough will be in effect for each of the first two years (20 hours for half-time employees and 30 for ¾-time)
- This mandatory furlough will not reduce the determination of pensionable pay for retirement purposes and employees will arrange time off as they do annual leave
- All benefitted MEA-represented employees will participate in furlough except certain job classifications where staffing requirements would lead to more costly overtime (i.e., non-sworn positions in the fire and police departments, including the crime lab, 911 dispatch and public works dispatch, records, parking enforcement, code compliance, property and evidence, police service officers, records, and special event traffic controllers)
- Employees who are exempted from mandatory furlough will instead have their 24 hours of paid discretionary leave paused in each of the first two years of the MOU
- All employees participating in mandatory furlough will continue to have 24 hours of paid discretionary leave available to them in each fiscal year
Flex:
- Increased allowances in all three years of the contract for employees covering dependents regardless of hire date, and for employees hired on or after July 1, 2020 who only cover themselves:
Post-2020 Emp Only Emp + Spouse Emp + Children Family
Current: $8,800 $18,700 $16,500 $24,000
CY 2027: $9,394 $19,197 $17,053 $25,694
CY 2028: $9,916 $20,203 $17,965 $26,993
CY 2029: $10,353 $21,007 $18,707 $28,005
- Note there are no increases for employees who waive health insurance, or for employees hired before July 1, 2020 who only cover themselves – the City is unwilling to provide increases because these are the only categories where excess Flex allotments are eligible to be taken as “cash” by employees
D-Mileage:
- Annual 5% cost of living increases to each level D-1 through D-6
New Retiree Health Benefit:
- Beginning July 1, 2028, the City will fund approximately $75,000 in a lump sum benefit for every employee hired on or after July 1, 2005, at the time they turn age 55 with 20 years of service
- Once funded, the benefit will be controlled and invested by employees and grow while an employee continues to work, and be available after retirement to pay for any out-of-pocket health, dental, or vision costs until Medicare eligibility (and thereafter) for the retired employee, spouse, and any qualified dependents
- In recognition of this superior new benefit, the .25% retiree health contribution currently being made by employees hired after July 1, 2009, as well as the City’s matching .25%, will end on July 1, 2026 – which will result in a .25% “take home pay increase” for these employees
- Much more to come on further details on this new benefit
SSAs and Add-On Pays:
- The new 3-year MOU includes a very limited number of Special Salary Adjustments and Add-On Pays – if your job classification would be benefitted by an SSA or Add-On Pay during the term of this 3-year MOU, you will receive a separate e-mail notification from MEA later today
Your elected Negotiating Team and MEA professional staff have been at the bargaining table with the City’s Team since November. The results outlined above are worthy of your support because the substantial overall gains that this new MOU will accomplish for every represented employee are undeniable, despite the smaller and temporary concession related to a mandatory furlough. And it is also undeniable that the path ahead if MEA rejects this form of “participation” in helping to address the City’s budget deficit is not only uncertain but paved with substantial downside risks that employees will get zero or even worse.
Please be on the lookout for details coming soon regarding the ratification vote, which will likely take place in early May. The vote will be an “up or down” vote on the terms as a whole and only MEA members are eligible to vote.
The achievements in this new Tentative Agreement were secured through the efforts of your elected MEA Negotiating Team, including Lead Negotiator Ann Smith, General Manager Michael Zucchet, and President Michele Chicarelli – all of whom strongly recommend a YES vote when its terms come before the membership for ratification.
Please don’t hesitate to contact MEA (info@sdmea.org or 619-264-6632) with feedback, questions or if you need assistance on any issue.