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Thursday, April 04-April 10, 2024
VOL. 8,
NO. 165
Board approves series of pay hikes for county's biggest union
Riverside wins grant to achieve greater life spans for Arlanza residents
By City News Service
By City News Service and Staff
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Union members rally in downtown Riverside in December. | Photo courtesy of SEIU Local 721
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he Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a threeyear, $304.8 million contract with a Riverside County collective bargaining unit representing nearly 9,000 employees in county government, with one supervisor voting against the compact over concerns about thriftless spending. "I have to vote for the financial stability of this county," said Supervisor Kevin Jeffries, who cast the sole dissenting vote. "This is unsustainable to me. There's an argument to be made that we have to do it anyway. But we cannot afford what's coming. Show me that two years from now, we're not going to be dipping into reserves or laying off people by the thousand." The agreement with Service Employees International Union Local 721 contains a number of
concessions granted by the county that board Chairman Chuck Washington didn't fear would create fiscal peril between now and the time when the compact expires on Jan. 29, 2027. "We are well-positioned to be able to adjust when we see an economic downturn, which everyone has been predicting for the last three years," Washington said. "But people are still spending a lot of money. That explains some of the inflation. If times get tight, my position is not to spend us into the red. I wouldn't predict layoffs. We're not in the gloom-and-doom today, and it doesn't look like it's on the immediate horizon." Under the SEIU terms, all union members, whether they're receiving six-figure salaries or at the lowest rungs of the pay schedule, will receive automatic pay increases, the first one
totaling 5% and retroactive to March 21. Subsequent adjustments will be a 4% raise on May 6, 2025, and a 4% increase on May 6, 2026. Built into the compact, which was negotiated over a nearly three-month span between union shop stewards and the Department of Human Resources, are additional provisions that provide for automatic hikes related to "callback pay" when a worker is required to get back on the clock after a regular shift, and increases in county contributions to workers' medical, dental and vision benefits. There are also concessions specifically tied to case workers in the Children's Services Division of the Department of Public Social Services. However, one of See Pay hikes Page 13
the contract provisions that Jeffries found objectionable was the creation of an additional county holiday — Juneteenth, or June 19 — which was previously only a state holiday. Juneteenth recognizes the emancipation of slaves in the United States at the end of the Civil War. The supervisor said he wouldn't have opposed the addition if SEIU had agreed to nullify one of the Presidents' Day holidays in February — county government observes two — to offset the new day off. Jeffries said each holiday translates to an estimated $7 million in "lost productivity." The supervisor also voted against a salary amendment to the 7,900member Laborers' International Union of North
he city of Riverside has been awarded a $1 million state grant to turn the Arlanza neighborhood into a "blue zone" that will try to help residents live longer, healthier lives. The grant, made via a partnership with the California Volunteers program in the Governor's Office, will fund a two-year effort in which five subneighborhoods in the greater Arlanza area will develop projects leading to a resident-driven community action plan, officials said Friday. The projects will involve connectivity, nutrition, movement and climate, with the goal of increasing health and sustainability and positioning the neighborhood for more grant funding. The city worked with community partners Riverside Community Health Foundation and Healthy Leaders Thriving Cities/Love Riverside to secure the competitive funding. "Living longer and happier lived should be a goal for all residents," Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson said in a statement. "This is an opportunity for a new generation of Arlanza residents to enjoy a healthier community." Blue zones are defined as communities having populations living measurably longer, happier lives with lower rates of chronic diseases and a higher-than-average quality of life. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention See Arlanza residents Page 28
Ambulance medic who sexually assaulted patients sentenced
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By City News Service
24-year-old ambulance attendant from Riverside County who groped and solicited sex from a teenage girl and another female victim while they were in transit to hospitals was sentenced Thursday to two years in state prison. Jason Dean Anderson of Wildomar in January admitted two counts of sexual battery on a restrained person for the purpose of arousal under a plea agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney's Office. In exchange for his admissions, prosecutors dropped two related charges against Anderson. During a hearing Thursday at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta, Superior Court Judge John Monterosso See Sexual assault Page 27