Somerset County Mental Health
December 1- Contracts can be found here:
- Contract for Professional Mental Health Employees
- Contract for Supervisory Professional Mental Health Employees
October 15- Grievance forms can be found here:
October 6 - Contracts Approved!
The Freeholders voted unanimously to approve the CWA contracts for both the professional and supervisory professional bargaining units at their regular Freeholder meeting tonight. As soon as we receive confirmation from Human Resources, we will notify members when to expect their retroactive checks. All members will receive their own copy of the contract by mail shortly.
September 14- Agreement Reached in Somerset County
We are pleased to report that the CWA Bargaining Committee reached a Tentative Agreement with Somerset County on Wednesday, September 9 covering the County’s professional and supervisory mental health workers. That Agreement was ratified overwhelmingly yesterday by CWA members in both bargaining units. The Agreement must now be approved by the Somerset County Board of Chosen Freeholders before taking effect. Thanks to all Shop Stewards, members, and friends who supported their brothers and sisters in Somerset County through this fight.
September 11- September 9, 2009 – The CWA Bargaining Committees have reached a Tentative Agreement with the County. A summary of the Tentative Agreement was mailed and e-mailed to all members. The ratification vote will take place on Monday, September 14. Members who are unable to vote in person during those times may request an absentee ballot by calling the Local Office or e-mailing aluck@cwa1037.org.
August 21 – The Bargaining Report from our session yesterday is being mailed and e-mailed to all members today. Thanks to all who participated in our mobilization activity at the Freeholder Meeting on Tuesday – it had a positive impact on negotiations yesterday. Between now and our follow-up session on Wednesday, September 9, all members are asked to continue seeking signatures for our community support petitions. To download a paper copy of the petition, visit http://www.cwa1037.org/somersetpetition.pdf. Somerset County residents can also sign an online version of the petition by visiting http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/support-somerset-county-mental-health-workers.html. Completed petitions can be returned directly to CWA or to any member of the CWA Bargaining Committee.
July 30- The Bargaining Report from July 28, 2009 is being mailed to all negotiations unit members at home. There will be a meeting at PESS on Tuesday, August 4 from 1:30pm-3:00pm in the ER Conference Room. There will be a meeting at the Richard Hall Community Mental Health Center on Wednesday, August 5 from 12:15pm-1:15pm in the Multi-Purpose Room. For details on the meeting at the Center, click here.
June 26- New Bargaining Report Here
June 5- Bargaining report can be found here.
May 19- CWA Wins Decision on Clarification of Unit at PERC
Yesterday we received a decision from the Director of the Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) with regard to the unit issues raised by the County involving part time employees in the professional bargaining unit. The decision on the unit clarification came out in our favor and clarifies specifically that the professional unit that was certified by PERC on June 17, 2008 includes all regularly employed part time professional employees, including hourly employees. The PERC standard for “regularly employed” includes all employees who work at least 1/6 of the time worked by full time employees. We have posted the full decision here for your review. The County has until May 29, 2009 to request review of this decision by the Commission.
In the meantime, our CWA Bargaining Committee will push to resume negotiations for the professional unit as soon as possible. Since this unit issue was the reason the County gave for calling off negotiations with the professional unit on February 3, 2009, we expect that we will now be able to return to negotiations for the professional unit.
As we push for a swift and fair conclusion to negotiations for both units, it is now more important than ever that all members show their support for negotiations by wearing something red on Thursdays (and on our scheduled bargaining dates of June 3, 2009 and June 24, 2009). There will be a general membership meeting for Local 1037 on Tuesday, May 26 at 6:00pm at the Galloping Hill in Union (located at 325 Chestnut St.) which you are invited to attend. If you have any questions about the decision or about our ongoing negotiations, please contact the Local office at (973) 623-1828 or by e-mail at info@cwa1037.org.