12/7/2007

CONTRACT UPDATE - #28

TABLE TALK
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).

'Two steps forward, one step back'
The State placed on the table this past week a significant economic package comprised of the across the board wage increases, location pay, hazardous duty and inconvenience pay pattern agreed to in the NYS/CSEA agreements.  This offer was contingent on PEF negotiators abandoning the many other economic changes provided to our colleagues in CSEA.  PEF made it clear that we will not accept an agreement which is not comparable to that agreed to by the largest of the 11 unions negotiating with GOER and that one most similar to our own.
 
Negotiators reached tentative agreements (always subject to an overall agreement) on matters including funding of labor management training, adding the subjects of carpooling and ridesharing as a charge to LM committees, clarifying job rights for those on probation periods longer than one year, and prioritizing the processing of out of title grievances in cases where the agency agrees with the employee and union that a violation of the contract exists (which is frequently the case).
 
State negotiators have increased their demand for cost shifts in the health insurance area - increases which were not agreed to by the CSEA.  Although in the context of an otherwise fair deal the differences could be worked out it is disconcerting that at this stage of bargaining the State just insists that PEF members accept an inferior health insurance package than was already offered to and accepted by CSEA.
 
Highlight Issue 
In the last AIM we spoke of several complex issues which were being discussed by the parties. Each week we will highlight one of these issues. Let's start with our goal to improve our dental and vision benefits.  
 
Inadequacies of our dental and vision benefits have consistently been among the top complaints of our membership. The State has agreed that the Union has the unilateral authority to decide whether it wants its dental and vision benefits administered by the State or by a Benefit Fund. Experts for the union are analyzing the wisdom of pulling out of the State plan. At this writing we are confident that the study will conclude that a union administered benefit fund will provide richer benefits to our membership without costing the State a nickel more than they currently pay.  Our projection is supported by real word experiences of other State unions who receive money from GOER to administer their own fund (CSEA and UUP are two examples).
 
In anticipation of the study results our union has a proposal on the table that the state provide the same funding to PEF it provides to CSEA and UUP so that we too can administer and improve our dental and vision offerings as early as January, 2009. 
 
This week the State responded by rejecting funding of a benefit fund even though funding at an adequate level is, at most, cost neutral and may even actually save the State money.  State negotiators counter proposed to put the issue in a committee for the committee's consideration of a funding amount, if any, during the term of the contract. Under the State's proposal the committee recommendation would be subject to review and approval/disapproval by GOER. Given that other unions deliver richer dental and vision benefits via Benefit Funds utilizing set amounts of contributions by GOER and that the contributions are at least cost neutral to the State the union believes that hashing out a mutually agreeable funding level now is the wiser course of action.  
 
Over the next several weeks, months or longer this is one of the more complex issues which will need to be worked out in order for the parties to reach a fair agreement comparable to that which the State has already bargained.       
 
NEXT MEETING
The parties will caucus internally Monday and rejoin at the bargaining table Tuesday.