Sacramento County has been negotiating a contract with nearly 6,500 of its employees for eight months. One of the largest obstacles stalling the negotiations is the resistance toward paying higher contribution rates, according to Robert Bonner— head of the Office of Labor Relations for Sacramento County—and union leaders.

Two years ago, California passed the “California Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act” which gave local governments five years to make employees pay 50% of their pension contribution.

That means for an employee making $50,000 a year, his or her contribution would roughly double from about $2,500 to $5,000 a year.

3,600 of Sacramento County’s workers are represented by United Public Employees (UPE) Local No. 1.

“We’re not objecting to paying more,” UPE’s Executive Director Ted Somera said to The Sacramento Bee. “But it’s too much, too soon.”

Hundreds of UPE workers recently walked off the job in protest of the county’s stalling. UPE and nine other unions have been working without a contract since June 30, 2013.

According to The Sacramento Bee, eight of the ten have agreed to match the county’s contributions by 2018.

Read more at The Sacramento Bee.

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Synopsis above adapted from Public Sector Alliance.