SACRAMENTO COUNTY: Health Workers Accept Revised Contract
Sacramento County health service workers yesterday "overwhelmingly accepted" a labor contract negotiated by an outside mediator, the Sacramento Bee reports (Davila, Sacramento Bee, 10/11). American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 146 workers went on strike Sept. 17 after rejecting the county's tentative contract, protesting that the pay was insufficient for an economy in which "inflation had outpaced cost-of-living raises by about 50% during the 1990s" ( California Healthline, 9/22). The strike ended four days later when the union and county called in a state mediator to settle an agreement. According to union negotiator Felix Huerta, the new contract provides a higher equity increase for dietitians, a weekend shift differential and improved recruitment and retention incentives for mental health center employees. Huerta said that seventy-five percent of the union's membership voted on the contract. The Board of Supervisors will consider the agreement at 9:30 a.m. today (Davila, Sacramento Bee, 10/11).
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