08/10/2007

CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE #16
PEF's PS&T contract team continues to meet with a team of negotiators from the Executive Branch headed by representatives of the Governor's Office of Employee Relations (GOER).

TABLE TALK
- Leave Adjustment Program Extended
We made some headway with the state regarding the signing of the part-time Leave Adjustment Program. Under this extension, eligible part-time employees will receive any additional leave accruals owed to them under the terms of the pilot program for the first half of the current fiscal year.

It is the third "sunset" program extension that has been signed. (A sunset program is a provision that doesn't automatically carry over once the contract expires.)

The others are the Leave Donation/Exchange Program that allows eligible employees who have exhausted their accrued leave credits because of a long-term illness to receive leave donations from other PEF employees and the basic medical discount provider program ("Multiplan") in the Empire Plan.

The state's position remains unchanged regarding continuation of the tuition reimbursement program. They have dismantled it and will not agree that any subsequently negotiated money must be used to reimburse individuals who paid for tuition out of their own pockets during the hiatus.

UPCOMING MEETING
Division of Budget representatives will make a presentation at the next negotiation session scheduled for Tuesday August 21.