IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
A public employees union has won a major financial settlement against Riverside County.
Member of the Service Employees International Union Local 721 will receive $16 million in raises and other benefits from the county during the next two years, after an arbitrator ruled for the union in three of its four grievances with the county, according to a report first published in The Press-Enterprise.
Those raises, which are in addition to nearly $416 million in pay hikes union members will receive between 2012 and 2016, were awarded after workers agreed to pay more toward their retirement and accept smaller pensions for new employees.
That move will stabilize the county’s pension system while saving the county $856 million during the next 10 years, according to the report.
About 6,000 of the county’s employees belong to the SEIU, which represents clerks, nurses and social workers, among other categories.
