Committee advances paramedics’ MOA extension and update to Employee Relations Ordinance

The Government Audit & Oversight Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted Oct. 14 to send two labor-related measures to the full Board with positive recommendations: an extension and terms update for the SEIU Local 1021 H-1 fire rescue paramedics memorandum of understanding, and an ordinance revising the City’s Employee Relations Ordinance.

The committee chair, Eric Marr, called the items forward and, after presentations, said the committee would move both measures "without objection" to the Board. The clerk read the paramedics item as an ordinance to extend the unit’s agreement through June 30, 2013, and to implement specified fiscal-year terms.

Martin Grama of the Department of Human Resources said the H-1 paramedic unit is small — about 14 full-time equivalents — and that the proposed memorandum of understanding aligns the unit’s wages with the firefighter classifications. Grama also said the agreement includes a retirement-restoration provision intended to ensure participants do not suffer a loss in lifetime pension earnings as a result of the concession package.

On the Employee Relations Ordinance (ERO), Grama told the committee that DHR spent roughly a year updating the ERO to reflect a change in state law and to clarify local processes. The revised ordinance incorporates the Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) jurisdiction established in state law, while retaining local Civil Service Commission and court procedures for safety officers and managers who remain outside PERB’s scope. The update also adds time limits on signature gathering for union election petitions (signatures older than six months would be invalid) and references the state law mechanism commonly called "card check" in certain circumstances.

Bob Muscat, chair of the Labor Council Public Employee Committee, testified that the DHR-led process involved broad labor participation (police, fire, SEIU, management and counsel) over multiple sessions and urged the committee to approve the ERO update.

There were no public speakers on the labor items. A motion to forward each item was made on the record; the committee advanced both with a positive recommendation to the full Board. The committee did not record a formal roll-call vote in the transcript; the record shows the measures were sent forward "without objection."

The Board of Supervisors will receive the committee’s recommended actions on the agenda scheduled Oct. 26 unless otherwise noted. The committee’s materials and the ordinance texts should be consulted for the specific contract language and ERO amendments.