Thanks to the amazing work of our DOC Shop Stewards across the state, we were able to achieve record returns on contract surveys for the upcoming negotiations over your 2015-2017 collective bargaining agreement.

More surveys means that more DOC Teamsters have voiced their concerns and prioritized issues that are important to all of us.  The surveys also allowed members to include written comments about compensation, overtime provisions, bidding rights, seniority, and other issues.

With this information, along with the input gathered from discussions at demands meetings, your bargaining committee can develop meaningful proposals to present in negotiations.

Your input is especially important in these negotiations because our newly-won interest arbitration rights will allow us to make a case for our proposals before a neutral third-party arbitrator should we reach impasse with the state over mandatory subjects of bargaining.

The other important work we are doing to prepare for upcoming negotiations is to analyze job classifications and determine market-based comparables so that we can make persuasive arguments with respect to compensation before the arbitrator.

On March 21, we will be meeting with all DOC shop stewards statewide to examine the survey results so that we can continue to develop our proposals.  

In the meantime, if you have any questions about the process, please talk to your Business Representative. Together, with your participation, we can achieve a fair contract for all DOC Teamsters.