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DEBORAH A. MILES PEF’s PS&T contract team has been meeting with negotiators from the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations (GOER) throughout the summer.
In August, PEF and the state signed an extension of the part-time Leave Adjustment Program. This allows eligible part-time employees to 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 that has been extended. (A sunset program is a provision that doesn’t automatically continue after 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 in the Empire Plan.
The state has yet to agree to extend tuition reimbursement.
“We are still battling with the state negotiators for this program,” said Roger Scales, PEF’s chief negotiator and director of labor relations. “The termination of these benefits creates a burdensome interruption for PEF members who are working to complete particular courses of study.
“Professionals need educational courses and we are calling on the governor’s negotiators to break with tradition and continue educational offerings during negotiations. Or, at a minimum, agree that employee costs during the hiatus would be reimbursed when the contract is settled,” Scales said.
Health benefits, cost
Health benefits also dominated the talks at the bargaining table. In July and August, representatives from United Health Care participated in a discussion of state proposals and spoke about shifting significant costs to employees, Scales said.
“We suggested the state and insurance companies focus on improving the network of participating providers, instead of devising ways to shift more costs to members,” said PEF Vice President and Contract Chair Lou Matrazzo.
“We understand maintaining health benefits without sky-rocketing co-pays is an important issue, and one we are fighting for,” Matrazzo said.
What about raises?
If you’re wondering when raises will be the topic at the bargaining table, Scales said, “Historically, any real bargaining on money hasn’t occurred until the final hours of negotiations.”
But PEF has provided the state with information relevant to determining raises.
“Our proposal regarding raises includes Consumer Price Index data, U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics information and other pay raises provided in contract settlements,” Scales said.
The state is expected to counter with inflation costs in the health and prescription programs as well as long-range budget projections.
For updates on negotiations, visit the PEF Web site and click on the contract button, sign up and read the Active Informed Member (AIM) bulletins or call the weekly PEF Information Line.