ESC Reaches Table Agreement with PG&E — Full Table Agreement Documents Now Available

On April 27th, the Union reached a Table Agreement with PG&E for the 2026 collective bargaining negotiations. Following company and Union review of contract language, the full Table Agreement documents are now (finally!) available at the links below. Included in the Table Agreement are:

  • A cover letter from the Company to the Union, which describes most of the significant contract changes (but not all changes); 
  • Attachment A, which includes all contract language changes, with additions bolded and italicized and deletions struck through;
  • Attachment B, which contains changes to benefits; 
  • Attachment C, which contains changes to job descriptions; 
  • and for this contract Attachment D, which includes terms of conversion of some classifications to other classifications, reclassifications for others, and relevant agreements. 

Changes to Exhibit A (Salaries) will be made in the event that the TA is ratified, to reflect the agreements made.

For many of you, this is your first vote on a contract Table Agreement. A Table Agreement, or TA, is the term used to describe the entirety of agreements reached between Union and management negotiating teams about a potential new collective bargaining agreement. For a TA to become the next collective bargaining agreement, it must be ratified by a majority of members. It has been ten years since ESC members have voted on a TA on negotiations of the entire contract. This TA is correspondingly voluminous and complex. It is customary that members are afforded the opportunity to review all the potential contract changes (described below) and to have the opportunity to attend membership meetings to fully understand the agreement before the members vote on whether to accept the changes. Regrettably, it has taken weeks longer than initially anticipated for the members to have the entire TA. Part of the reason is the thoroughness with which the Negotiating Committee and Union staff have reviewed the material for accuracy. This TA includes retroactivity to January 1, 2026, so this delay will not inhibit the economic gains represented in the TA, even though a ratification vote has been delayed by weeks.

This TA is the culmination of a bargaining process that began in January 2025 and required the analysis of thousands of bargaining survey responses, including more than 1,000 proposals submitted by members; the formulation of hundreds of Union proposals and the articulation of business cases to support them; and the analysis of over 100 company proposals. More than 100 ESC members served as Negotiating Committee members, sub-committee members, ad hoc negotiators, or subject matter experts. The Union is grateful to all members who made themselves available for ad-hoc committees and consultation, and especially thanks your outstanding ESC Negotiating Committee. 

Members should be proud of our unity and our determination to secure a fair contract. As many of you know, management initially sought a number of takeaways, including curtailing sick time, vacation time, time and mileage pay, both long- and short-term disability, and more. It was because of member unity and participation that the Negotiating Committee was able to defeat these takeaways, as well as make numerous significant gains. 

TA key points

The TA includes:

  • A General Wage Increase of 5% for 2026, 5% for 2027, and 5% for 2028, with full retroactive pay back to January 2026 if the agreement is ratified on the first vote
  • A retroactive pension adjustment for those who have retired since February 2026
  • $1500 ratification bonus per employee
  • New remote work exhibit that preserves the possibility for remote work permanently in the Contract. Remote work arrangements will continue to be governed by local agreements
  • Preserved or increased healthcare benefits, though premium co-pay has increased from 7.5% of premiums to 10% of premiums. This increase is far outweighed by the General Wage benefit
  • Preserved sick time, short-term disability, and long-term disability
  • Preserved vacation accrual rate (new 2x accrual cap in 2028 with new provisions for vacation payout)
  • Preserved time and mileage pay
  • New Distribution Design Engineer (DDE) classification that converts all existing Electric ADEs, SREEs, and Estimators into SRDDEs, DDEs, and DDE Associates and gives them the same advancement and bidding rights as new hires into the classification, as well as higher top steps for SRDDE and DDE
  • Path for Gas ADEs and Estimators who meet the new requirements to take all DDE modules and DDE exam to bid into DDE vacancies with wage protection
  • Improved ability for gas estimators to delay or split shifts to take engineering courses
  • Equity adjustments for many classifications
  • New higher classifications in many lines of progression
  • 2x OT during major electric events expanded to all hourly employees
  • Reorganized Title 21 bidding
  • Provision for Mandatory Pre-arranged Emergency OT
  • Transition to exchanges for retiree medical (anticipated to save the vast majority of retirees money)
  • A process for the Company to alter the estimate and design packages requirements of SO205 while creating protections that prevent the transfer of estimating work jurisdictions
  • Many updated job descriptions
  • New GC per diems
  • New hourly OT meal $50 in lieu payment
  • Other than for single locations, the elimination of fielding expectations for the New Business Rep line of progression 

Informational meetings

This contract includes provisions for full retroactive pay, so there is ample time to hold informational meetings before members cast ratification ballots. Next week, ESC will hold two online meetings:

If you would like to submit questions in advance of the meeting, please use this Google form.

ESC is also planning to hold in-person TA review meetings and additional online meetings, and will announce them soon.

Ratification timeline

In order to allow members sufficient time to review the TA and ask questions, ratification ballots will be mailed to members’ homes about four weeks after this announcement. There will also be a period of about four weeks for members to return ballots. The full ratification vote schedule will be announced after next week’s ESC PG&E Unit Board meeting. 

Thank you again for all you have done to help secure this TA, and I look forward to reviewing your questions and seeing you at next week’s meetings.

Your ESC PG&E Unit Executive Board and your 2026 ESC Negotiating Committee recommend a YES vote.

In solidarity,

John Mader, President

Francisco Preciado, Executive Director