130 county employees reach tentative deal By Tony Biasotti Ventura County Star February 9, 2008 Union and Ventura County negotiators have reached a tentative agreement on a new three-year contract for a group of about 130 white-collar county employees. The contract, if approved by the union membership and the county Board of Supervisors, will give members of the Ventura Employees Association an immediate raise of 3.22 percent, followed by annual raises of 2.5 to 3 percent. When factoring in changes to pensions and other benefits, the total compensation increase ranges from 4.21 to 4.57 percent per year, according to the county's analysis of the proposed contract. The contract goes to a vote of the VEA members on Tuesday. It also will be introduced to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, although the board won't vote on it until later in the month. The VEA consists mostly of county engineers and assessors. Last year, they voted to break off from the 4,000-member county chapter of the Service Employees International Union, citing a desire for more local control and the possibility of getting a better deal in collective bargaining. The contract proposal the VEA negotiators approved offers similar raises to those given to SEIU members in their most recent contract. Kent Meyer, an appraiser in the Tax Assessor's Office, said he thinks VEA members will approve the deal. "We got all we could get," he said. "I don't think we could have done much better." The negotiating process took months and there were some delays, but Meyer said he's happy with the VEA's first experience with collective bargaining. "The VEA-SEIU controversy wasn't just about getting more, it was about representation and democracy," he said. "I believe overall we did have more control this time." Copyright 1999-2008, California Coastal Coalition Phone: (760) 944-3564