California mental hospital workers to get 10.5% raises, $2,400 stipends in new contract

Most psychiatric technicians who work in California state mental hospitals would receive raises totaling 10.5% over three years under a new contract agreement, according to a Thursday announcement from their union.

The tentative agreement between the California Association of Psychiatric Technicians and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration would also provide a variety of stipends and special raises aimed at retaining the 5,500 employees the union represents.

The agreement still must be approved by union members and the Legislature. The state Human Resources Department, which manages negotiations for the governor, has not yet posted a total cost of the agreement online.

The technicians, who are licensed, provide behavioral and psychiatric care to mentally ill and developmentally disabled patients, most who are in state facilities under court orders. They earn from about $45,000 to about $92,000 per year.

Their pay agreement is the second contract deal a state employee union has struck with Newsom’s administration this year, and it resembles the first one, which covered about 1,000 state HVAC workers.

The psychiatric technicians’ agreement provides a 2.5% raise for all employees retroactive to July 1.

It provides 4% raises in 2023 and 2024 to those who are at the top of their pay scales. That’s about 76% of the group, said Coby Pizzotti, a lobbyist who represents the union.

The agreement provides $1,500 retention stipends for all union members. Newsom’s administration has also paid $1,500 stipends under various names to most state law enforcement employees and to firefighters.

The agreement includes another set of payments, identified as mental health and wellness stipends. The $600 would be paid twice a year through 2024, up to $2,400, to employees who have worked for at least six months. The payments don’t count toward employees’ pensions in retirement.

For the first time, psychiatric technicians are eligible for longevity pay under the agreement. It provides a 2% pay bump at 17 years of employment and more for additional years, up to 5% at 25 years.

Additionally, the agreement provides monthly stipends for psychiatric technicians who work at the four state mental hospitals with the highest vacancy rates.

Those at Atascadero State Hospital would get $400, while technicians at Coalinga, Metropolitan and Napa state hospitals would each get $200 extra per month. Vacancy rates range from 17% to 22% at the four hospitals, Pizzotti said.

“We have secured salary increases and pandemic pay commensurate with our sacrifices and contributions to the state,” union president Eric Soto said in the release, citing employees’ work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Four unions with expired contracts remain in negotiations. They represent state firefighters, attorneys, engineers and scientists.

This story was originally published July 22, 2022 at 5:00 AM.