Category: Negotiations

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

See update message below from the ACE Negotiations Team:

Hello ACE Members,

On Friday, April 11th, ACE sent our “sunshine” letter to the district to notify them of our intent to open Articles 9 – Holidays and Vacations, and Article 14 – Worker Expenses and Materials, for the 2025-26 bargaining cycle. As a reminder, Article 8 – Pay and Allowances, and Article 18 – Benefits, are automatically opened and are collectively bargained in joint sessions with the other FHDA bargaining units. Our focus in opening articles 9 and 14 along with 8 and 18, include but are not limited to:

1. Gaining parity with other bargaining units and districts in terms of vacation accrual.
2. Increasing or eliminating altogether the $1,600 cap on travel and conference funds
3. Keeping our employee contribution for benefits as low as possible.

We decided to open these articles based on the results of our negotiations survey as 64% of respondents expressed interest in opening Article 9 – Holidays and Vacation along with the knowledge that our district will soon hit the “revenue plateau” in the next fiscal year, meaning that our revenue from the state will not increase until our enrollments increases by a significant margin.

This is not news to us as the district has been very transparent about this fact and has expressed concerns about what this means for the long-term financial health of the district as costs will continue to go up while our revenue will remain flat for the foreseeable future. Another consequence is that our district will not be eligible for any Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), even if it is included in the approved state budget. As such, we must look to maximize the available means of compensation outside of COLA that is already included in our contract. It is clear you, our membership, knows this as well as we received many comments throughout each section of the survey expressing this same concern.

Last week, the district informed us that along with Articles 8 and 18, they intend to open Article 13: Hours and Overtime – as they stated: “District’s interest is to meet student demand for services and classes in a manner consistent with the law and the Faculty Association agreement.” I expect the district’s interest in this area is to have each campus and their services available during nights and weekends. Both Sunshine letters are attached and were included in the Board of Trustees meeting agenda last night.

We will begin the bargaining process with the district soon, and will keep you updated on any developments. I am hopeful that with an almost entirely new leadership team in our district, our bargaining process will proceed in a timely and efficient manner founded in transparency and mutual respect.

On behalf of the Negotiations Team, thank you to those who took the time to complete our survey and we look forward to advocating for all ACE members at the bargaining table.

ACE Negotiations Team
@Chris Chavez, Foothill
@Andrea Santa Cruz, De Anza
@Keri Kirkpatrick, De Anza
@Ben Judd, Central Services
@Alex Collins, Foothill
@Satinder Kaur, De Anza
@Scott Olsen, Central Services

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Questions? Contact a member of the ACE negotiations team directly and/or attend an upcoming site meeting.

In Service,

Scott Olsen (he/him) | ACE President
https://acefhda.org | scott.olsen@acefhda.org  
650-949-7789 | M-F 8:30am-5:00pm

ACE-Sunshine-Letter-2025.pdf
Districts-Interest-Stmts-ACE-2025-26-Reopeners.pdf

ACE members,

The District and ACE have reached a tentative agreement on the 2024-2025 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), employee benefit rates for plan year 2025 (effective Jan. 1), and article 2​3 which extends our contract through October 31, 2027.

We will hold a general membership meeting next Wednesday, Aug. 14 at noon via Zoom.  Please check your email for the meeting invite.

 In short, we’ve agreed to:

 COLA

• 1.07% – this was the full amount included in the state’s budget for 2024-25.  It is retroactive to July 1, 2024.  The District is currently working on a timeline to get it implemented as quickly as possible. 

Health Benefits

• Employee medical premiums remain the same as plan year 2024. It’s important to note, on average, premiums went up 12.8% for active employees and 19.8% for retirees. 
• Employees will pay $6/$12/$18 (employee, employee+1, or family) for dental and vision coverage.  This coverage was free for plan year 2024.
  • Maximum out of pocket for dental increases to $2000(in network) and $1800(out of network) for plan year 2025. Up from $1700/1500 in plan year 2024.

 Article 23 – ACE Contract Rollover

• With our contract set to expire, Oct. 31, 2024, we have elected to roll it over through Oct. 31, 2027.   A new negotiation team will be selected through the election process in October. 

Your negotiations team was very thorough and thoughtful in this process to keep our agreement strong, benefits affordable and salary schedules moving upwards, especially during these challenging financial times.

We look forward to seeing you and answering your questions at the general membership meeting next Wednesday, August. 14.

Of service,
Chris White, chair of negotiations

Negotiators
Stacey Carrasco
Chris Chavez
Joseph Gilmore
Keri Kirkpatrick
Andrea Santa Cruz
Scott Olsen

Please note:  this information is for ACE members only. If your colleague did not receive it, please have them contact Scott Olsen.