Labor

Over the past 15 years, median family income in San Joaquin County has increased a total of 58%, which averages out to about a 3% increase each year. As you can see from the chart at the bottom of the blog, there were very few years where income jumped more than 4%. Conversely, most Manteca city government salaries have increased over 100 percent during the same time period. To perform the salary analysis, staff reviewed the salary history of employees who have been in the exact same job title since 12/01/1994. It then narrowed the list down to employees who were at the top of the salary range, and therefore only received increases via cost of living adjustments or salary surveys. In addition, while salaries jumped over 100 percent on average, post-retirement income has increased by nearly 180 percent for miscellaneous employees and well over 200 percent for public safety employees. That is due to the enhanced retirement plans approved earlier this decade. While employees gave up a small cost of living adjustment to receive the enhanced retirement, the City's cost to fund enhanced retirement plans has increased 300 to 400 percent since that time. In the past, the city paid from 0% to 10% on top of each employees salary into a retirement fund. The city now pays around 16% for non-safety and 26% for safety employees. Thus, public employee salaries have increased far more quickly than the community as a whole, and post-retirement benefits (which are often non-existent outside of government) have grown exponentially as has the cost to maintain these enhanced retirement plans. In our current environment of declining revenues, this is simply unsustainable. The salary concessions we are asking for are nominal compared to the generous labor agreements that our employees have received over the past 15 years. Here are some examples from each labor bargaining unit which demonstrate how public sector benefits have grown since 1994: White Collar Miscellaneous Employees: Income growth over past 15 years: 100.91% Increase in post-retirement income: 171.23% Blue Collar Employees: Income growth over past 15 years: 78.5% Increase in post-retirement income: 140.98% Middle Management: Income growth over past 15 years: 109.21% Increase in post-retirement income: 182.44% Civilian Police Staff: Income growth over past 15 years: 93.78% Increase in post-retirement income: 161.61% Police Officer: Income growth over past 15 years: 106.01% Increase in post-retirement income: 209.01% Fire Fighter: Income growth over past 15 years: 114.71% Increase in post-retirement income: 222.06% HUD Median Family Income San Joaquin County Median % Increase 1994 $40,200 1995 $40,200 0.0% 1996 $41,500 3.2% 1997 $42,600 2.7% 1998 $43,700 2.6% 1999 $44,300 1.4% 2000 $45,400 2.5% 2001 $46,900 3.3% 2002 $47,500 1.3% 2003 $50,600 6.5% 2004 $55,100 8.9% 2005 $55,300 0.4% 2006 $57,100 3.3% 2007 $60,300 5.6% 2008 $61,300 1.7% 2009 $63,600 3.8% Increase 1994-present: 58% Annual Increase: 3.1% Increase 2001-present: 36% Annual Increase: 3.85% Increase 2005-present: 15% Annual Increase: 2.93%