The forecast for the 2009/2010 budget was an $8 million shortfall. Each department was asked to cut 5% in an attempt to balance the budget. As part of that, the departments were told to attach the service consequence to the cuts. What this means is that if a cut is being presented, and corresponding service level cut would also have to occur. The City Council will need to weigh the cost to service levels as they make cuts to the budget. The budget presentations have been made and minimal service levels were impacted.

Although the impact has been low, this is the issue that directly affects each of us in the BCEA. Adjusting service levels will mean a change in our working conditions. These changes range from picking up more work to losing a program or service we are currently providing. The initial forecast does not indicate that any bodies currently in a position will be lost, but that may not be the case in 2010/2011. We are already seeing vacant positions being eliminated and this trend is not encouraging.

The BCEA and City have an agreement in place and Mr. Flad has said he intends to honor it. The MOU has a 2.43% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) due July 1st. With the budget upside down, the Executives and Z Group will not be taking their raises. This decision by City leadership was based on the belief that it would not be appropriate to take a pay raise while there are budget shortfalls. The plea to the BCEA is for us to decide if there is something that as a group, we can do to do our part to help during these hard times. There is an expectation that all bargaining groups step up and help in some way if it can be worked out. What we decide to do is up to us and is the reason for this mailing.

As of this writing, there has been speculation that the Police and Fire groups will not be taking salary increases this year in negotiations. Realistically, their new contracts will include increases of some kind but we will not know what those are until the process is completed. The BMA have also indicated that they are willing to help in some way but what they do is not known yet. The IBEW also have guarantees but there has been no word that they intend to help in any way. Following the consensus we reached at our March meeting, I sent a memo to the City Manager that we would like to meet and discuss how the BCEA can specifically help and to start working towards that end. More than a month later the City contacted us to begin the process of seeing what could be worked out which is when we scheduled our June meeting.

The discussions at the June meeting brings us to our next decision goal, what would the membership be willing to do? We are including an update and a survey with this newsletter in the actual mailing. The update was distributed at the meeting (with some minor additions) and the survey was created afterwards for you to give the Executive Board direction on what to pursue. Please spend some time thinking about and completing the survey. Your input is vital to the process and is truly appreciated by your Union leadership. The surveys can be turned in at the BCEA office on either June 22nd or 23rd, between 7am and 6pm. At least one Executive Board member will be available to answer questions and discuss your ideas.

We all know these are tough times. Unfortunately, tough times hit our membership harder than the other groups. I continue to stress this to the City Council and all that I speak to. I have let it be known that the BCEA has ideas on how to save money and that we will bring forward ideas that we want the City to consider before making cuts that impact our membership. Most of these ideas come from you, the active membership, and I want to reiterate that these ideas are important to the process of limiting the impact these budget problems will have down the road. Please continue to forward them to me as you think of them.

We are being asked to determine what we feel is the right thing to do, for us and the City, and to act on that decision. We have a large and diverse group and our opinions will vary. I ask that you consider your own situation but to also consider how each of your coworkers will be affected. We enter negotiations next year and these economic troubles will still be around. Your Board is committed to the long term welfare of the members and we see an opportunity to make a positive impact now and in next year's discussions.

At the June meeting, we mentioned that the membership survey is advisory to the Board. There will be a vote of the membership before anything is implemented! The direction we get from the returned surveys will be aggressively pursued and another meeting is needed. We are scheduling a Membership Meeting on Wednesday, July 1, 2009. The time will be at 5:30pm., but the location will need to be determined. Postcards will be sent announcing the details of the meeting. There will be a vote that evening along with an all-day voting session on Thursday July 2nd. It is a holiday shortened week but we are hoping that many of you will be able to make one or the other of these. As always, if you have concerns you feel need to be addressed, please share them. We need to know.

Thank you again for taking the time to participate in your Union. Our collective success is directly related to how many people are involved in the process.

In Solidarity,

Darrin G. Borders
President, Burbank City Employees Association, AFSCME 3143, AFL-CIO