Public Employees Ratify Wage Pacts

Workers for the Pleasant Valley Elementary School District and the Ventura County Area Housing Authority have ratified contracts that provide for pay increases, a labor official said Monday.

About 50 custodians, maintenance workers and bus drivers for the Camarillo school district will receive a 4.5% pay increase in the pact approved last week, said Lawrence Wear, associate director of the Public Employees Assn. of Ventura County.

The increase brings the salaries of the district’s blue-collar workers in line with employees in other districts, Wear said. Under the agreement, bus drivers with at least five years experience will make $2,085 a month for 10 months, he said. Maintenance workers with similar experience will earn $2,655 a month, Wear said.

The union also completed negotiations last week for 30 employees of the Ventura County Area Housing Authority, he said. Those workers will see their earnings rise by 2.5% over the next two years, he said.

By a vote of 2 to 1, the Housing Authority employees also approved an agency shop clause in their contract with the union, Wear said.

That provision requires union members to pay monthly dues of $28.16.