Benefits Negotiations Update from Chris Chavez, Chair of Negotiations:
Hello Everyone,
The Joint Labor Management Benefits Committee (JLMBC) comprised of all the bargaining units the Association of Classified Employees (ACE), the California School Employees Association (CSEA), the Faculty Association (FA), the Police Officers Association (POA), and the Teamsters, entered into a MOU with the district on the employee contribution for health benefits for the 2026 calendar year.
As negotiated last year, our employee contribution stands at 15% of the total cost of the chosen benefit plan, where the district contributes the other 85%. Our interest this year was to maintain the 15% contribution level at a minimum, while attempting to ensure any rate increases would not impact our membership. In the past, we have traditionally negotiated an across-the-board contribution rate. However, due to significant rate increases to certain plans, this was not feasible from a fiscal standpoint.
To mitigate the rise in cost, particularly for members with dependents, the bargaining units and the district had the mutual interest of categorizing our benefits options into low-cost, medium-cost, and high-cost tiers based on premium levels to spread out this cost as equitably as possible. Below are the breakdown of each plan tier and the employee contribution for each tier:
The low-cost plans include:
- Kaiser HMO
- PERS Gold PPO
- Blue Shield Trio HMO
- UnitedHealthcare Signature Value Harmony HMO
- Western Health Advantage HMO
- PORAC PPO
For low-cost plans: employees will contribute 10.5% of the premium for employee-only coverage, and 13.5% of the premium for employee plus one dependent and family coverage.
The medium-cost plans include:
- Blue Shield Access+ HMO
- UnitedHealthcare Signature Value Alliance HMO
- Anthem HMO Select
For medium-cost plans: employees will contribute 14% of the premium for all coverage levels.
The high-cost plans include:
- PERS Platinum
- Anthem Traditional HMO
For high-cost plans: employees will contribute 15% of the premium for all coverage levels.
PERS Gold PPO: employees will contribute 11.2% of the premium for all coverage levels.
Employee contributions for Vision and Dental stay at their current rates.
One quick note you may have noticed is that all singles with no dependents enrolled in a low-cost plan will see their contribution decrease slightly for almost all plans (e.g. singles on the Kaiser HMO plan will see a modest decrease of $23 per month).
In years past, the district was able to use the Rate Stabilization Fund (RSF), which was a separate pot of money the district would use for one-time funds to mitigate such a rise in cost to employees. However, the district chose to eliminate that pot of money, as is their fiscal right to do so, but the bargaining units reminded the district this was their decision and that it did not give them the right to pass the financial burden onto employees due to the lack of the RSF. To which the district accepted. This is another example of the power of solidarity and collective bargaining and how ACE serves you, the membership.
A reminder that open enrollment begins in October. HR will provide a number of tools to help employees compare plans so they may make the best decision for themselves and their dependents.
Chris Chavez
Chair of Negotiations
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Message from Scott Olsen, President:
ACE Members,
Attached is the JLMBC Plan Year 2026 Detail spreadsheet which shows the background information on plan increases. This is a snippet of what union negotiators are presented with in the Joint Labor Management Benefits Committee. The rising cost of healthcare is a real issue for employers and employees. Collectively we did our best to create a proposal that was reasonable despite premium rate increases of 5% to 13% to our plans with the most enrollment. Initially there was a desire from the district to set an 85/15 (Employer/Employee) cost split and a ceiling at 1.7$mil in additional costs paid by the district. By the end of negotiations we created a different model with a district contribution of 2.2$mil.
As a reminder, we negotiate the premium contributions for the menu of CalPERS plans – we do not negotiate the details of the plans themselves.
Our next task is seeking a salary increase and improving the collective bargaining agreement. Stay tuned for more updates and look out for announcements about voting on tentative agreements made by the ACE negotiations team. If a colleague did not receive this message, they may not be a member. Please communicate the value our union brings to this workplace. Without representation our employer would have free reign to impose unilateral decisions.
Note: I’ll manually forward this message to employees who’ve recently submitted membership application forms (LINK).
In Service,
Scott Olsen (he/him) | ACE President
https://acefhda.org | scott.olsen@acefhda.org
650-949-7789 | M-F 8:30am-5:00pm
JLMBC-MOU-Benefits-Plan-Year-2025-FINAL-Signed.pdf
JLMBC-PY2026-Rate-Detail.xlsx