March 30, 2026
Dear Sisters & Brothers,
I hope this message finds you and your family safe and well.
After four months of intense negotiations with the County Executive’s bargaining team and eight long days of mediation, we have reached a tentative agreement on a multiyear collective bargaining agreement.
Now it is time to turn our attention to ratifying the tentative agreement and preparing to lobby the County Council for full funding of all economic provisions.
Please take time to review the tentative agreement below.
*Please note that the agreement is password-protected. It is only available for review by dues-payers who’ve received a password (check your email).
In it, you can learn more about what we achieved in this round of negotiations. The agreement includes wage enhancements, retirement benefit improvements, and other gains that will benefit you and your families. Moreover, in addition to achieving our hard-fought gains we successfully fought back a barrage of County proposals that were designed to significantly reduce the operating budget at your expense.
Without the right to bargain over wages and benefits and the protection of a union contract, you all would have experienced a significant reduction in your income and long-term earning capacity, increased health care costs, and weakened protections of your wages, benefits, and working conditions (see enclosed list of proposed takebacks).
Please also take a moment to thank the members of our bargaining team and committee, who worked tirelessly and sacrificed a great deal to secure this agreement. Their names are listed on the reverse side of this letter.
Ratification Meetings and Voting
We will be holding in-person and virtual ratification meetings so members can review the agreement, ask questions, and discuss next steps.
Every active member will receive a separate email with a personalized voting link from noreply@opavote.com. Should you not receive the link, contact the union office.
- If you plan to attend a ratification meeting, you may choose to vote either before or after the meeting. Online voting is encouraged; however, in-person voting will also be available.
- If you are unable to attend a meeting, you may review the agreement at the link above and use the personalized voting link in your email to cast your vote.
OpaVote is an independent outside vendor that will conduct the electronic voting to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of the process.
You will be granted up to two (2) hours of administrative leave to attend a ratification meeting. The full meeting and voting schedule is below.
Next Steps with the County Council
The agreement is also pending action by the County Council. It is included in the Executive’s proposed FY27 operating budget, which was submitted to the Council on Friday, March 15, 2026.
As a union family, we must be prepared to send a strong and unified message to every Councilmember that we expect their full support for funding our negotiated wage and retirement benefit enhancements, as well as other economic provisions.
Given the political and revenue dynamics surrounding this agreement, it is especially important that we have internal discussions regarding securing Council support for our hard-fought enhancements. To secure support, we need each of you to be fully engaged in the budget process, which will include reaching out to individual Council members asking for their support as well as attending Council meetings as needed
Voting Eligibility
Please note that only dues-paying members are eligible to vote. If you would like to participate in the ratification vote and are not currently a member, please contact the union office to complete a membership application.
In solidarity,
| Gino Renne President, UFCW Local 1994 MCGEO Vice President, UFCW International Union | Lisa Blackwell-Brown Secretary/Treasurer | Lisa Titus Recorder |
County Proposals Designed to Reduce Current Benefits
- 5.22 Training Differential – county proposed restricting eligibility of how members are paid a training differential.
- 5.4 Multilingual Differential -county reducing the number of members who receive the differential and have unfettered discretion to discontinue/reduce someone’s differential for any reason.
- 5.17 General Emergency Pay – county wanted non-essential employees to telework during a declared emergency.
- 5.1 Longevity Increments – county proposed that members must receive an “Above Expectations” rating on their performance appraisal to receive their 17-21-& 26-year longevity salary increase as well as eliminating the percentage salary increase and replace it with a onetime longevity bonus.
- 14.6 Scheduling Annual Leave -county proposed making it much easier for managers to deny annual leave requests.
- 18.1 Parental Leave – county proposed reducing the amount of leave and shorten the timeframe within which you could use it.
- 5.9 (j) Overtime – county proposed moving to the FLSA – federal government law to compute and pay overtime which would have required members to be in a work status (at work) at least 40 hours to earn OT. Currently you earn OT daily and it’s based on pay status.
- 5.3 Shift Differential – county proposed reducing the number of members currently receiving the differential.
- 21.5 Health Benefit Premiums – county proposed increasing employee health insurance premium cost share by 10% as well as increasing copayment for various health services by 50%.
- Appendix XVII Wage Equity – county proposed granting a higher level of discretion to managers to set new hire salaries while, at the same time, reducing the union’s ability to challenge any subsequent wage inequities that may arise.
- 5.14 Salary on Promotion – county proposed lowering salary on promotion to 2% grade of advancement.
- Article 5.32 Compensation Structure (new) – county proposed that the payment of yearly service increments be stretched out over 25 to 30 years of service.
FY27 Montgomery County Bargaining Team & Advisory Committee
| Union Staff | ||
| Gino Renne, President | Lisa Blackwell-Brown, S/T | Lisa Titus, Recorder |
| Ray Lee, Special Asst to the Pres. | Ryan Conlon, Union Rep | John Kilker, Union Rep |
| Bargaining Team (Primary) | |
| Soloman Ajibade, DOCR | Jeffrey Noel-Nosbaum, HHS |
| Jeffrey Coster, LIB | Frank Oliva, DOCR |
| Mike Davis, DOT | Lennie Patterson, ABS |
| Patricia Dent-Lewis, REC | Frank Pruitt, SHF |
| Audra Dugue, HHS | Aaron Smith, DPS |
| Heather Fine, CUPF | John Smoak, DGS |
| Darrell Foreman, POL | Denise Thomas, DHCA |
| Brenda Hartwig, HHS-SCH | Renae Tippett, POL |
| Eugene Henson II, DOT | Felix Turcios, HHS |
| Leonard Joseph, POL | Abdullah Wadood, ABS |
| John Mack, DRS | Kathy Wood, TEBS |
| Bargaining Team (Alternates) | |
| Ernest Bonny, ABS | Charlene Green, REC |
| Cheyn Bray, DPS | EJ Haapala, POL |
| Mike Brown, SHF | Mike Hecht, DOCR |
| Derek Cade, DOT | Daniel Hill, HHS |
| Clara Cantave-McLean, DOCR | Eduardo Mendes, HHS |
| Nathan Chadwick, LIB | Steven Moore, DGS |
| Cathryn Chang, POL | T’Keyah Nelms, DHCA |
| Kareem Dimerson, ABS | Jennifer Olkewics, HHS |
| Michelle Edwards, HHS | Rachel Paolucci, POL |
| Advisory Committee | |
| Priscilla Ade, HHS | Claiborne Marshall, DOT |
| Bonita Condon, HHS | Obioha Okeke, DOCR |
| Maria del Mar Borrero de Fernandez, HHS | Stafford Owens, DOT |
| Nicolas Edougua, DOCR | Jess Rouzee, DOCR |
| Girum Gena, DOT | Ivan Tsykhmistrenko, DOCR |
| Kenneth Gray, ABS | Alexander Voltz, DOCR |
| Michelle Izuka, LIB | Valerie Whitby, DHCA |
| Stephanie Little, POL | Aisha Williams, DOCR |
FY27 Contract Ratification Meetings and Voting Schedule
UFCW Local 1994 MCGEO has reached a tentative agreement for FY27. Members will have the opportunity to attend informational meetings and vote on ratification.
Informational Meetings
April 6 – April 9, 2026
Active members may attend and vote at any meeting location.
Monday, April 6
Silver Spring Highway Depot
8710 Brookville Rd, Bldg A, Silver Spring
2nd Floor Training Room
1:00 PM
Sheriff’s Office (Closed Location)
50 Maryland Avenue, Rockville
8:00 AM & 4:00 PM
PSHQ – Edison Park Drive
100 Edison Park Drive, Rockville
1st Floor Conference Room
3:30 PM
Tuesday, April 7
Wheaton Urban District
2425 Reedie Drive, Wheaton
Room 2-303
10:30 AM
Emergency Communications Center (Closed Location)
2:00 PM
Virtual Meeting
6:00 PM
Wednesday, April 8
Gaithersburg East & West
7000 Crabbs Branch Way, Rockville
1st Floor Conference Room
1:00 PM
Virtual Meeting
6:00 PM
Thursday, April 9
Virtual Meeting
6:00 PM
Ratification Voting
Friday, April 10, 2026
Members are encouraged to vote at the most convenient voting site.
Voting Locations
Montgomery County Detention Center
Main Lobby
1307 Seven Locks Road, Rockville
6:30 AM – 8:30 AM
2:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Montgomery County Correctional Facility (Closed Location)
Main Lobby
22880 Whelan Lane, Boyds
6:30 AM – 8:30 AM
2:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Pre-Release Center (Closed Location)
Blue Conference Room
11651 Nebel Street, Rockville
8:00 AM – 7:00 PM
Nicholson Court Ride-On
Drivers Lounge
4925 Nicholson Court, Kensington
4:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Gaithersburg Ride-On
Drivers Lounge
16700 Crabbs Branch Way, Rockville
4:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Silver Spring Ride-On
Drivers Lounge
8710 Brookville Road, Silver Spring
4:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Union Office Voting
Members may also vote at the MCGEO Union Office between April 6 – April 10:
Monday – Friday
9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Additional Information
Administrative leave referenced in the cover letter is only available to members attending informational meetings.
All ballots will be counted Monday, April 13, 2026, and results will be posted at:
For questions or directions, contact the union office:
301-977-2447
IMPORTANT REMINDERS
- Only active members are eligible to vote
- Members may attend any meeting and vote at any location
- Administrative leave is provided only for attending meetings
QUESTIONS?
Call the union office: 301-977-2447
All ballots will be counted Monday, April 13, 2026. Results will be posted at: www.mcgeo.org
