Committee advances 22 union MOUs after concessions to cover San Francisco budget gap

The Government Audit and Oversight Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on June 18 unanimously advanced 22 memoranda of understanding with city employee unions to the full board for final approval, after the Department of Human Resources and labor leaders described concession agreements intended to reduce a major budget shortfall.

Martin Grama, employee relations director for the Department of Human Resources, told the committee the package stems from negotiations intended to address a projected $522,000,000 budget deficit and that the agreements together bring "approximately $80,000,000 in the first year" of savings. Grama said most miscellaneous employee groups agreed to about a 4.5 percent giveback (reported alternately as roughly 4.62 percent depending on calculations) over two years. For groups without scheduled raises, the giveback took the form of 12 furlough days per year; public safety and nurses' units will follow a separate model of roughly 8 percent over two…