California unions get contract extensions UPDATED

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Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration is finalizing labor agreements with four unions representing a total of 24,000 state workers, including doctors, crafts workers and psychiatric technicians.

[Updated 10:50 a.m. The tentative agreements were signed late last week and are worth $17.8 million.] Once approved by the Legislature, they will extend the unions’ current contracts for another year.

That means every state contract with a public employee union –- about 182,000 employees from 12 unions, including corrections officers, nurses and more -– will be expiring in July 2013.

“This is one of those harmonic convergences when you have all of them lined up at the same time,” said Lynelle Jolley, a spokeswoman for the Department of Personnel Administration.

Most contracts run for about two years, although public safety unions often have longer contracts.

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-- Chris Megerian in Sacramento

Twitter: @chrismegerian