SACRAMENTO, California — The California state scientists’ union announced Sunday that it had struck a tentative contract agreement with Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration, potentially ending a four-year standoff during which scientists went without pay raises and launched a first-of-its-kind strike.
The California Association of Professional Scientists agreement, if approved by members in a ratification vote, would deliver raises of as much as 23 percent over three years for employees at the top of their pay scales, according to an email sent to members Sunday. That’s less than the increase of up to 43 percent the union had demanded to correct what it said were long-standing disparities, but more than the top-line offer from Newsom’s administration that members rejected in December.
The deal could settle an uncommonly bitter labor dispute in the California state workforce involving about 5,000 workers, including environmental scientists, epidemiologists and chemists.
The agreement is unusual in that it consists entirely of specialized salary increases based on employees’ job classification and time of service — it doesn’t include a general increase for everyone that is normally the basis of a state worker contract.
