2022 Decertification & Other Questions and Answers

BCMEA Decertification Questions & Answers

Teamster's Decertification Questions & Answers

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Teamster's Decertification Questions & Answers

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Update July 26, 2022

Disclaimer: Any errors or omissions to this FAQ are not intentional. Please direct any corrections, questions or concerns about these FAQs to contactbcmea@gmail.com so that they can be promptly resolved.​

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Round 2 Q&A:

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1. Because of the shortened negotiating timeframe, would Dave be willing to allow all BCMEA Bargaining unit members to vote on the newly negotiated contract rather than just dues paying members this first time?

No answer.

2. It was mentioned in one of BCMEA’s meetings that Teamsters would freeze the dues to BCMEA’s rate ($24 per month) if Teamsters was not able to move BCMEA onto Teamster’s insurance, is this true?  If so, how long would that freeze last?

Dave stated he was going to propose a $40/month dues rate until members could move to the Teamster’s medical plan. He stated that he could not promise that rate until the council approves it.  Teamsters would hold that rate until they were able to move the unit to Teamster’s health insurance.

3. I can’t find anything in the Teamsters Constitution or Local #137 Bylaws allowing you to cap or modify the dues any lower than 2.25-2.5 times an employee’s hourly rate.  Where does it say that you can modify or cap the dues?

Dave stated local regions have the ability to adjust dues rates. They adjust rates for most public sector groups and did for BCEA and SSW when they moved to Teamsters.

4. Reading over the TRT (Trust) plan, the plan says that after Medicare pays their portion of the medical bill the individuals must submit a claim for each bill to TRT for payment, is this still the case?

Dave stated this is not accurate. The bills are automatically sent to the Trust for payment after Medicare pays, unless under special circumstances (i.e.-out of the country, paid in cash and being reimbursed, etc.)

5. Dave said he is meeting with the rest of trustees to set the insurance rates on 8/10.  Will you commit to sending those rates out to us immediately so we can make a fully informed decision?

Dave stated he’d let us know the morning of August 11th.  He is also discussing increasing TRT Trust cap to $2M, capping prescription costs, and they anticipate an insurance rate increase of 2%.

6. With CalPERS your retirement is considered a qualifying event for insurance, which means you do not have to be enrolled in the insurance prior to retiring in order for the employee and their dependents to use the one-year County paid health insurance and/or sick leave conversion.  We just sign up for the insurance upon retirement.  Do you have to be enrolled in the Teamster’s insurance prior to retiring in order for you to utilize the insurance after retirement? If so, how long do you have to be enrolled before you can retire?

Dave stated they can grandfather in up to 10% of bargaining unit, but after that you need to be on a Teamster’s plan to get on a retiree health insurance plan for 24 out of 36 months*.  This allows them to use $25/m from the active employee’s insurance payment to subsidize the retiree Trust plan.  If the employee was hired prior to 2010 the 24 out of 36 months could include the one-year County paid insurance and the sick leave conversion period, but they would have to be on the active insurance plan.

BCMEA Notes: On the New Hire Presentation PowerPoint, dated 7/29/2020, it is documented that this requirement is 24 of 48 months. Also, Teamsters waived this requirement for the first 2 years of the plan when they decertified BCEAs and SSW.

7. How many members are there in Local 137? Of this how many are local government and in Butte County?

Dave stated there are about 3000 members, 2/3 are public sector now. 

8. How are the insurance rates set?  Are they set at Local 137? The Northern Region? Do they collectively set it across California?

Dave stated the rates are based on the trust, which covers Bakersfield north, not just Local 137; they all belong to the same joint council.

9. With the health insurance subsidization, is it subsidized by the membership dues or the active health insurance subscriber’s payments?

Dave stated the rates for retirees are subsidized by active insurance subscribers.

10. Since Teamster’s has previously subsidized health insurance premiums, what will happen if you don’t get the number of active subscribers you were anticipating? How will this impact the future cost of health insurance premiums?
 

Dave stated there are so many new groups being added he does not think it would affect the cost. It is only the TRT Trust retirees, not the retirees on the active plan or the Medicare Advantage retirees.

12. Last year when BCMEA approached Teamsters about the possibility of affiliating for our members to gain access to health insurance Teamsters stated that our demographics were bad, we had too many retirees, and that an affiliation was not going to work.  What has changed? We have more retirees than we ever have and that number is growing.
 

See above.

13. Dave had said there were active vs. retired employee percentages that had to be considered when looking at whether Teamsters would be willing to pick us up for insurance.  Was he talking about active employees on insurance vs. retired employees on insurance? We have several hundred retired employees currently using CalPERS insurance, what is the percentage tipping point to where our demographics are too bad and you aren’t willing to pick us up?
 

Dave stated they would pick us up no matter what, regardless of demographics.

14. Besides the employees or BOS not facilitating the move, is there any other reason Teamsters would not move us onto their insurance?
 

Dave stated no, they would pull us over on insurance.

15. BCMEA provided statistical data to show the work they performed for the membership during the recent classification and compensation study.  Since Teamsters said they will be providing superior representation, do you have the Teamsters statistics to show what Teamsters did to assist their members during the classification and compensation study?
 

Dave stated no, they do not. Dave and Derek said they did not keep statistics; they just did the work.

16. Teamsters did not propose a COLA during the recent MOU negotiations, even though inflation is at a record high and all of our comparable counties are receiving COLAs over this same period of time.  Please explain the logic behind this decision.
 

Dave stated that COLA and Longevity was on table but County was not willing to address those issues along with the Class/Comp study.  They plan on addressing it again in future in negotiations. 

17. Teamsters has been in Butte County since 2017, please identify a few of the major accomplishments that impact the membership as a whole and an individual member.

Dave stated they saved employees thousands of dollars in Health and Welfare, they quickly gave funds to help fire victims, and have handled every grievance in Butte County at lowest level possible without having to file a formal grievance.

18. Has Teamsters filed any grievances with Butte County over violations of the MOU or Personnel Rules? If so, what was the topic and outcome?
 

Dave stated they don’t keep track of how many they do, they take care of issues on the ground floor so they don’t escalate to that level.

19. Has Teamsters had to file an Unfair Labor Practice against the County? If so, who from Teamsters would handles this and what was the topic and outcome?

Misty stated they have had one in five years.  The case was in regards to wrongful termination.  Their attorney sent a letter to the County and the employee was hired back with back pay.

20. Has Teamsters had to pursue any formal disciplinary action or mediation or arbitration? If so, who from Teamsters would handle an arbitration?
 

Dave stated they do not keep track of how many they do.  They take care of issues on the ground floor so they don’t escalate to that level.

21. Since it has been stated that Derek Hawley will be representing BCMEA, please explain his experience providing local government representation and will he be acting as the Chief Negotiator for the BCMEA members in the 2025 negotiations.
 

Derek stated he worked for 7+ years in a school district, was Vice President of their association, he sat on negotiations team, and they did their own Class & Comp study.  Although he has only been with Teamsters for 4 months, he is not new to public sector and it is what he grew up in (he is Dave’s son). 

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Round 1 Q&A:

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1. If we leave the CalPERS Health plans, we are locked out of returning to those plans for 5 years. What guarantees do we have that Teamsters will not withdraw their representation within that 5-year period and leave us unable to get back into CalPERS?

• Dave stated that they would not withdraw within 5 years. He has never had a unit want to go back to CalPERS and has only withdrawn representation for one unit.  He stated, “You will have to take my word for it.”

2. What do the health plans look like for those looking to retire or those that are already retired:

• Aged 50-65, and does it make a difference if the County is paying the premium or the employee?

Employees have two options: 

Hired before June 30, 2010*: Stay on the active plans as long as the County is paying or employee is on COBRA, the same plans that are offered while you are employed. Employee can use their sick time conversion to pay the premium. Documentation to be provided.

BCMEA Note: BCMEA has asked for clarification whether employees paying out of pocket for insurance (no County contribution) would have to go into the Teamster Retiree Trust (TRT) plan or if they could stay on the active plan. Documentation to be provided.

Hired after June 30, 2010*: Retired employees move to the Teamster Retiree Trust (TRT) plan. The cost of this plan is $400/month as it is subsidized by active employees. 

BCMEA Note: On the above two dates in purple: The corrected date shown for the sick leave conversion is before June 30, 2010. Dave mistakenly stated that it was before January 2014. Anyone hired after June 30, 2010 is NOT eligible for the sick leave conversion or the one year paid County insurance after retirement.

Aged 65+?

Medicare Advantage Plans.

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3. The 2022 Teamsters Retiree Trust (Trust) currently states in order to be eligible for coverage under the plan, you must have been an active employee by a medical plan of the Northern California General Teamsters Security Fund for at least 24 months out of the 42 months immediately preceding the date of application in the trust plan. How will this impact employees who plan to retire in less than 24 months? Where does it say this? 

• Dave stated that this provision will not apply to existing BCMEA Unit Employees or Retired employees. This will only apply to people who are New Hires with the County after Teamsters is recognized. Dave stated that there are limits on percentages of retirees vs. active employees.

• According to Butte County Human Resources: Teamsters waived the 24 out of 42 month waiting period when they decertified BCEA, “but it will depend on what the members are able to get from Teamsters in writing. Last time the waiver only lasted the 24 months”, after that the employees had to meet the 24 out of 42-month stipulation.

  • BCMEA Note: We would like to have this in writing.

4. Do any of the plans have a maximum payout? If so, what happens if you hit that cap.

• The Retiree Trust plan has a $1M lifetime payout limit (cap). Dave stated that if that cap is reached Teamsters will “work with” the employee about options, it may be that they raise the cap for everyone or they switch the person to Kaiser Health Insurance (if they live in the correct zip code to obtain Kaiser).  Dave stated that in the very rare cases that this has happened, there has never been a case where the coverages were denied. Dave stated that there is no documentation to show this, it is an internal process.

  • BCMEA Note: We would like to have this in writing.

• The Medicare Advantage and active plans have no cap.

5. Can we get copies of the insurance plan documents for both active employees and retirees? The actual contract documents that spell everything out, versus just the summary of coverage sheets?

• Dave stated that he would have Heather from their Redding office send the documents out on 7/25 when she returned to the office.  We have not received the documents yet. Documentation to be provided.

6. What are the rates for all of the insurance plans? (Single, Single+1, family, etc. for active, retiree 55-65, retiree 65+, COBRA, etc.)

• Dave stated that the 2023 rates won’t be set until 8/10. He expects a 1%-2% increase. Documentation to be provided.

7. One of the reasons it has been so hard to get quotes to leave CalPERS health insurance is because they refuse to disclose our health plan usage data.  Does Teamsters have a policy on the release of Health plan usage data in case we wanted to leave the health plan in the future?

• Dave stated that he does not know, “it has never happened”. He will look into it, but does not think they would be willing to provide usage information.

8. We have seen documents that show the Adventist Health is terminating its contract with Teamsters. What is the plan for replacing Adventist Health?

• Dave stated that this is a scare tactic. Dave called Anthem and they had already signed a 2-week extension and are working on the contract. He said that since they are not bound to the Anthem network, Teamsters can negotiate contracts on their own. He mentioned that this has happened other times when the medical facilities are needed by employees. He said they did this with Redding and that Enloe is so critical to the employees that there is “no way that we would lose access to Enloe”.

9. Explain the process for a qualifying event. As an example, a member loses coverage due to a spouse quitting or retiring. Does Teamsters consider this a qualifying event?

• Dave stated that they are the “standard qualifying events”, the same as PERS: Marriage, divorce, child, lost job, etc.  We asked where the documentation is located, and Dave stated it is in the plan documents. Documentation to be provided.

10. Does the Teamsters Retiree Trust Standard Plan meet the Affordable Care Act requirement? 

• Dave stated that these types of plans are not required to.

11. How do they plan to change the Sick Time conversion for Health Insurance knowing that it is currently tied to the HMO plan in the BCMEA MOU?

• Dave stated that this is a negotiated item in the MOU.  He would not change that unless dues paying members voted to. He did not state which plan the sick leave conversion would be tied to.
   

12. Does Teamsters plan to keep the Administration Leave provisions that are in the BCMEA MOU? Just because employees are in exempt positions does not mean that they automatically get Admin leave, it is a negotiated benefit.

• Dave stated that this is a negotiated item in the MOU and he would not change that unless dues paying members voted to.

13. How does Teamster’s plan to address representation of both subordinate and management staff when there is a conflict?

• Dave stated that Derek Hawley would take the Management Unit and Misty Tanner would take the other two units. He stated they also have Dave and Heather and two others if they need more representatives.  If they needed more that that they would bring in other Teamsters staff from outside.

14. BCMEA currently has negotiated county contribution amounts for Health Insurance that are higher than Teamsters has currently. Teamsters reduced the County contribution when they took over BCEA; We want to retain our negotiated amounts going forward. How will Teamsters make sure that these amounts are not reduced this time?

• Dave stated that when they took over the General and SSW units he had to reduce the County’s insurance contribution and PEMCHA payment in order to make the deal with the County in one day. He stated that this may, and probably will, need to happen again. His opinion was that the considerable saving over CalPERS would offset this. The “deal” would have to be voted on by the dues paying members. 

15. BCMEA currently has CalPERS Health Insurance, which requires the County pay a PEMCHA payment on behalf of all BCMEA retirees for life. Since Teamsters is not under CalPERS Health Insurance, the County will not have to make the mandated PEMCHA payment for anyone in the bargaining unit, even people that have already retired. When Teamsters took over BCEA they negotiated a reduced County contribution towards retiree health insurance and it only covered employees that retired before the end of that year up until they turned 65, eliminating it all together for new retirees and anyone over the age of 65. How will Teamsters ensure that the amount of the County contributes towards the retiree health insurance is not reduced and that all retirees, regardless of their age or when they retire, will receive the County contribution towards the health insurance?

• Dave stated that it was the same answer as above.

16. What is the cost of dues? What assurances do we have that Teamsters will not raise them?

• Dave stated that dues are two times your hourly rate per month. 

  • BCMEA Note: We would like to have this in writing as it does not appear to coincide with the Teamsters Constitution dues rate (2.5 times hourly rate).

17. The average BCMEA unit member average wage tops out at over $43 per hour so dues will be considerably more expensive for management. Will you cap the dues and what will that cap be?

• Dave stated that the Management unit’s dues would be capped at two times the highest paid SSW classification’s top step and gave the Social Worker-Adoptions classification at dues as roughly $75 per month as of July 2022.

  • BCMEA Note: The highest paid classification in the SSW unit is the Employment Case Manager – Special Assignment (92) which tops out at $49.56 on the 2022 salary schedule.  We would like to have clarification as to which classification the dues would be tied to and documentation as a cap does not appear to coincide with the Teamsters Constitution.

18. Timeline Question: PERs released their medical rates on July 12th, that starts a 60-day window to exit which closes on September 12th. How could you have this all done and on the board agenda by the August 23rd meeting, considering the earliest we could vote on the decertification would be August 15th? Has Teamsters talked to HR about how they could make it work?

• Dave stated that it is “possible” but he is “not confident”. Depends on how fast the vote could happen “but it would have to happen fast”. He stated it could be done in two days with a walk-in vote, if the state was not involved, but it will be up to BCMEA. Dave stated that they have been talking to HR about the decertification timeline and the Board of Supervisors “could” call for a special meeting to get the new MOU ratified and a letter to withdraw from CalPERS by their cutoff.  Dave said that if they can’t get it done in 2023, they will “more than likely” get it done in 2024. 

19. Will Teamsters renegotiate the contract we just voted in? Have they already started talking to HR about what that contract would look like?

• Dave stated that they have talked to HR but didn’t go into details. He stated that he thought that they would be ready to move fast and HR would support us moving to Teamsters insurance asap.

20. Will the employees get to have input on the new contract Teamsters renegotiates?

• Dave stated, yes.

21. Will employees get to vote on the contract Teamsters renegotiates before it goes back to the Board of Supervisors for ratification? If so, how will that vote be handled? (Timeframes, in person/mail/email, etc.)

• Dave stated dues paying members will get to vote on a new MOU. He is unsure how he will handles it (Teamsters does not have set timeframes or guidelines for voting in their bylaws or constitution).  Dave controls how the votes are handled so he has the flexibility “to get deals done fast”.  If 51% of the dues paying members that have voted accept the MOU it is considered ratified by the membership, whether that vote is sent out by email or in person outside the negotiations room.  He stated that he will not “pull a quick one”, he will notify all dues paying members of the vote.

22. How does the membership application process work? Do you have to receive dues before you are considered a member? 

• Dave stated that employees must sign an application to get into a meeting.  If they are signing an application to be able to vote Dave/Derek/Misty will notify Heather that they have a signed application in hand and Heather adds them to “Election Buddy”, but this is up to Dave’s discretion.  Dave gave an example that in a small unit they had someone that never wanted to join the union before try to turn in an application so they could vote on the contract and Dave told them to turn it in after the vote was over, he was not allowing them to vote on the contract.

Other BCMEA Notes:

1. Teamsters reopened their office in Chico.
 

2. Management would be their own unit; we would not merge with General or SSW and would negotiate separately from the others if we wanted to.
 

3. Janus Rule (no agency shop): Dues are not required by law. If staff did not want to join Teamsters, they would not have to. If the unit chooses to decertify from BCMEA and move to Teamsters, Teamsters would be the recognized union for all negotiations and representation.  They would negotiate our MOUs, personnel rules, etc..  If you are not a dues paying member you would not receive personal representation for disciplinary matters or any other benefits of membership.  However, once the health insurance was an option, they couldn’t exclude you from health insurance just because you didn’t pay dues.