Association Contracts

California School Employees Association - CSEA

The Association of Carmel Teachers - ACT

Collective Bargaining Updates

September 28, 2022

The Association of Carmel Teachers (ACT), California School Employees Association, Carmel Chapter (CSEA) and Carmel Unified School District (CUSD) administration met today, September 28, 2022, to continue negotiations.

The teams discussed employee health and welfare benefits and CUSD’s Unaudited Actuals.

Today’s negotiations followed the IBB process and resulted in tentative agreements on one-time monies and contributions to benefits between CUSD and ACT and CUSD and CSEA. For unrepresented employees, CUSD will schedule to meet and confer with them to move forward with an agreement.

ACT and CSEA will be communicating directly with their units for the next steps in the process.

September 21, 2022

The California School Employees Association, Carmel Chapter 190 (CSEA) and Carmel Unified School District (CUSD) administration negotiating teams met today in negotiations. The teams continued discussions on the various articles included in the CSEA and CUSD initial proposals.

Tentative agreement was made on:

• Article III - Hours and Overtime

• Article IV - Vacations

• Article V - Holidays

• Article VI - Salaries and Wages 

• Article IX - Grievance Procedure

• Article X - Safety Conditions

• Article XII - Leaves

• Article XIV - Layoff and Reemployment 

• Article XV - Disciplinary Action

• Article XX - Duration

The following items were tabled:

• Article III Section 10 - Shift Differential

• Article XI - Evaluation Procedure

On September 28, 2022, CUSD, CSEA and ACT will meet in negotiations to discuss employee health and welfare benefits and CUSD’s Unaudited Actuals.

We will continue to communicate with all employees following each negotiation gathering with these joint communiques.

September 1, 2022

The California School Employees Association, Carmel Chapter 190 (CSEA) and Carmel Unified School District (CUSD) administration negotiating teams met today in negotiations. The teams continued discussions on the various articles included in the CSEA and CUSD initial proposals.

Progress continues to be made as the teams continued discussing, and in some cases drafting and finalizing changes, in the following articles:

• Article IV - Vacations
• Article V - Holidays
• Article VI - Salaries and Wages
• Article XI - Evaluation Procedure
• Article XII - Leaves
• Article XIV - Layoff and Reemployment
• Article XX - Duration

Remaining to discuss and finalize are:

• Article III - Hours and Overtime
• Article VI - Salaries and Wages 
• Article VII - Classified Employee Professional Growth
• Article IX - Grievance Procedure
• Article XII - Leaves
• Article XV - Disciplinary Action

These remaining items will be worked on between now and the next meeting of the teams on September 21st. During this meeting, the teams hope to work to finalize discussions on outstanding articles and will continue to communicate with all employees following each negotiation gathering with these joint communiques.

August 31, 2022

The California School Employees Association, Carmel Chapter 190 (CSEA) and Carmel Unified School District (CUSD) administration negotiating teams met today in negotiations. The teams began by developing shared goals for 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 contract negotiations and reviewing in detail the various articles included in the CSEA and CUSD initial proposals.

The teams began discussing, and in some cases drafting changes, in the following articles: 

• Article IV - Vacations
• Article V - Holidays
• Article VI - Salaries and Wages
• Article XI - Evaluation Procedures
• Article XII - Leaves of Absence
• Article XIV - Layoff and Reemployment
• Article XX - Duration

The negotiations teams will meet again tomorrow, Thursday, September 1, 2022, to continue these discussions and will continue to communicate with all employees following each negotiation gathering with these joint communiques.

May 18, 2022

The Association of Carmel Teachers (ACT), California School Employees Association, Carmel Chapter (CSEA) and Carmel Unified School District (CUSD) administration met today, May 18, 2022, to continue negotiations.

The teams held a detailed in-depth discussion of options for increases to employee salary/benefits and changes to leaves. Today’s negotiations followed the IBB process and resulted in tentative agreements between CUSD and ACT and CUSD and CSEA. For unrepresented employees, CUSD will schedule to meet and confer with them to move forward with an agreement.

May 12, 2022

The Association of Carmel Teachers (ACT), California School Employees Association, Carmel Chapter (CSEA) and Carmel Unified School District (CUSD) administration met today, May 12, 2022, to continue negotiations.

The teams held a detailed in-depth discussion of comparable districts, shared interests, and then began sharing a number of options for increases to employee salary/benefits. Today’s negotiations followed the IBB process and resulted in numerous options that will be further discussed when the negotiations teams meet again on May 18, 2022.

May 5, 2022

The Association of Carmel Teachers (ACT), California School Employees Association, Carmel Chapter (CSEA) and Carmel Unified School District (CUSD) administration met today, May 5, 2022, to continue negotiations. Last week, on Thursday, April 28th and Friday, April 29th a large team from all three groups met for Interest Based Bargaining (IBB) Training.

The teams held a detailed in-depth discussion of norms, elephants in the room, interests and standards, then began brainstorming options on the topic of leaves. Today’s negotiations followed the IBB process and began with a smaller issue (leaves) before discussing more complex topics, such as total compensation - salary and benefits, which will be the next topic addressed.

The negotiations teams will be meeting again on May 12, 2022

November 16, 2021

The Association of Carmel Teachers (ACT), California School Employees Association, Carmel Chapter (CSEA) and Carmel Unified School District (CUSD) administration met again today, November 16, 2021, to continue negotiations.

A short-term solution for benefit plans increases was agreed upon in the signing of two Tentative Agreements (TA), one for CSEA and one for ACT which both state in summary, “In an effort to eliminate any increase to employee out-of-pocket cost, the parties agree that the District shall cover the cost of any additional increases to the Health & Welfare benefit rate increases to the 2022 benefit year. The resulting out of pocket costs for employees shall remain the same as the 2021 rates for the same plans. The parties agree that a Benefits Committee will be reconvened … and Committee members should be identified by the parties not later than December 15, 2021. The Committee shall provide written recommendations to the tripartite negotiations committee no later than April 2022.”

An attachment is included here to clarify the changes being made. This estimated cost to the district to cover the increases of out of pocket costs for employees and retirees is $381,000.

The teams then continued discussion of salary including conversations surrounding inflation and cost of living, as well as employee recruitment and retention.

The negotiations teams have decided to schedule future negotiations in Spring 2022.

November 9, 2021

The Association of Carmel Teachers (ACT), California School Employees Association, Carmel Chapter (CSEA) and Carmel Unified School District (CUSD) administration met again today, November 9, 2021, to continue negotiations.

As was shared in last week’s update, November is open enrollment month and changes to plans have been finalized by MCSIG. The teams agreed it was important to try and find a short-term solution for benefit plan increases while establishing a longer-term plan to solve the larger issue of a complex and expensive benefits program.

Short-term, CUSD will be providing informational sessions/appointment opportunities with MCSIG during which employees can review plan options in line with their own health needs and those of their covered family members to ensure each employee is selecting the plan that best meets their needs at the lowest possible cost. As communicated earlier this week, the virtual session is scheduled for November 10, 2021 and the in-person session is scheduled for November 15, 2021. Both sessions are scheduled from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. The virtual meeting will be recorded and will be shared with all staff.

In addition to these informational sessions, the teams are finalizing wording on tentative agreements for additional short and long term solutions to the issue of a costly and complicated benefits program with the short-term solution focused on our employees not experiencing an increase to their out-of-pocket benefits costs for the 2022 plan year.

The teams then began discussion of salary including conversations surrounding inflation and cost of living, as well as employee recruitment and retention. 

The negotiations teams will meet again to continue negotiations on a date soon to be determined.

November 2, 2021

For the first time in recent District history, the Association of Carmel Teachers (ACT), California School Employees Association, Carmel Chapter (CSEA) and Carmel Unified School District (CUSD) administration met together in negotiations. The teams began by developing shared values and goals for negotiations and concluded the day with a review of the upcoming increases to health and welfare benefits provided through MCSIG that will impact employees (and retirees) in January 2022.

As November is open enrollment month and changes to plans have been finalized by MCSIG, the teams agreed it was important to try and find short-term solutions for immediate benefit plan increases while establishing longer-term plans to solve the larger issue of a complex and expensive benefits program.

For the immediate short-term, CUSD will be providing informational sessions/appointment opportunities with MCSIG during which employees can review plan options in line with their own health needs and those of their covered family members to ensure each employee is selecting the plan that best meets their needs at the lowest possible cost. More information on these opportunities will be coming soon.

In addition to this, the teams have begun discussions of short-term solutions so that our employees do not experience an increase to their out-of-pocket benefits costs for the 2022 plan year.

These short-term solutions allow the teams time to discuss longer-term solutions and to take a deeper look into issues of complex and high-cost benefits.

The negotiations teams will meet again on Tuesday, November 9, 2021 to continue these discussions and will continue to communicate with all employees following each negotiation gathering with these joint communiques.