June 25, 2009
National/Political
Obama leaves door open to tax on health benefits
By DAVID ESPO and PHILIP ELLIOTT
Associated Press
June 25, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama left the door open to a new tax on health care benefits Wednesday, and officials said top lawmakers and the White House were seeking $150 billion in concessions from the nation's hospitals as they sought support for legislation struggling to emerge in Congress. "I don't want to prejudge what they're doing," the president said, referring to proposals in the Senate to tax workers who get expensive insurance policies. Obama, who campaigned against the tax when he ran for president, drew a quick rebuff from organized labor. .. Gerald W. McEntee, president of the 1.6 million-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said in an interview that union leaders believe Obama is "a person of his word." He was referring to Obama's opposition to taxing those benefits during last year's campaign. "They're not going to tolerate that," McEntee said of workers' views of that proposal.
States Assert Place in Health-Care Debate / Governors Fear Shifting of Costs
By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post
Thursday, June 25, 2009
A bipartisan group of governors told President Obama yesterday that they share his urgent desire to restructure the nation's health-care system but warned that any changes should not place more burdens on strained state budgets or eliminate innovative programs they already have in place. With many state budgets burdened by ballooning Medicare and Medicaid costs, the five governors who met with Obama at the White House agreed that changes are needed to expand health-care coverage and contain its costs. But some of the governors voiced concern about how to achieve reform. "There's no perfect unanimity across the table in terms of every single aspect of reform. I think everybody here wants to make sure that governors have flexibility, that they have input into how legislation is being shaped on the Hill," Obama said. The governors were adamant that the restructuring of the health-care system not push new costs on states. "If we're going to add more population onto the Medicaid rolls, there has to be a way to pay for that," said Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm (D-Mich.), adding that it is a position Obama supported.
Liberals Draw Hard Line on Health Reform
By Steven T. Dennis
Roll Call
June 25, 2009
House liberals are warning the Senate, Democratic leaders and President Barack Obama that a government-run insurance option must be included in any health reform bill, or else the powerful bloc will vote it down. “Usually, we work behind the scenes to strengthen legislation,” said Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), co-chairwoman of the 80-member Congressional Progressive Caucus. “We’re careful not to take on our party’s leadership, or President Obama. “This time, however, is different.” Woolsey made it clear that she and many of her colleagues will vote to kill a health care plan if it leaves patients at the mercy of private health insurance companies. “No one in this building wants health care reform as much as we do. However, if reform legislation comes to the floor, and it does not include a real and robust public option that lives up to our criteria, then we will fight it with everything that we have,” she said.
Senators Worry That Health Overhaul Could Erode Employer Insurance Plans
By ROBERT PEAR and JEFF ZELENY
New York Times
June 25, 2009
WASHINGTON — Senators struggled Wednesday with the possibility that in offering subsidized health insurance to millions of individuals and families, they could inadvertently speed the erosion of employer-provided coverage, which they want to preserve. Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, who is leading efforts to write health legislation, said “much of the discussion” focused on this issue at meetings of senators on Wednesday. And, in the evening, in an indication of how the administration is going all out to sell the need for a new health care system, President Obama participated in a town meeting-style gathering televised by ABC News from the White House.
Senator Raises Possibility of Taxing Some Medical Benefits / Obama Pushes Health-Care Overhaul in Meeting With Governors
Associated Press
The Wall Street Journal
June 25, 2009
WASHINGTON -- Taxing workers for employer-provided medical benefits could become the next big controversy for President Barack Obama in his quest to overhaul the nation's health care system. A key senator involved in efforts to reach a bipartisan compromise said Wednesday the $1 trillion, 10-year package probably can't be paid for without taxing at least some high-value health-care plans. Mr. Obama adamantly opposed such a change in last year's presidential campaign but has since left the door open. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told House lawmakers Wednesday that Mr. Obama is willing to listen to suggestions on how to pay for a health care overhaul, as long as they don't increase the deficit. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D., N.D.), told reporters, "it's hard to see how you have a package paid for" that doesn't include a benefits tax. Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.) said "there's a lot of merit" to Mr. Conrad's point.
Op-Ed Columnist: The Prescription From Obama’s Own Doctor
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
New York Times
June 25, 2009
As a society, we trust doctors to be more concerned with the pulse of their patients than the pulse of commerce. Yet the American Medical Association is using that trust to try to block a robust public insurance option as part of health reform. In fact the A.M.A. now represents only 19 percent of practicing physicians (that’s my calculation, which the A.M.A. neither confirms nor contests). Its membership has declined in part because of its embarrassing historical record: the A.M.A. supported segregation, opposed President Harry Truman’s plans for national health insurance, backed tobacco, denounced Medicare and opposed President Bill Clinton’s health reform plan. So I hope President Obama tunes out the A.M.A. and reaches out instead to somebody to whom he’s turned often for medical advice. That’s Dr. David Scheiner, a Chicago internist who was Mr. Obama’s doctor for more than two decades, until he moved into the White House this year.
Op-Ed Contributors: The Only Public Health Plan We Need
By DAVID RIEMER and ALAIN ENTHOVEN
New York Times
June 25, 2009
CONGRESS will soon decide whether to create a public health plan to compete with private insurance companies and thus lower the cost and raise the quality of care. Everyone assumes that a public plan means a government-sponsored insurer that makes payments to doctors and hospitals, whether in the form of Medicare or — the latest idea — state-sponsored cooperatives. But Medicare has a dismal record of controlling costs and improving quality, and we lack evidence that co-ops could do any better. A better public plan would not be a new government-run insurer at all, but rather a government-chartered mechanism that would let employers and individuals buy health coverage from private insurers in a manner that uses the three most essential market forces — choice, competition and incentives — to reduce the price and improve care.
DiFi warned not to DE-fy on health care
by Chuck Todd
MSNBC.com First Read
Posted: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 11:37 AM
Earlier in the "First Thoughts" update, we hinted about how politically treacherous it can be to cross the Democratic Party campaign apparatus that is supporting the president on health care reform. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is finding out the hard way. Here's that previously referenced release put out by AFSCME pres. Gerald McEntee, who has been keeping somewhat of a low profile these last few months. It was a rocket.
Statement of AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee on Health Care Reform, June 23, 2009
Nation's Staff RNs Call on Congress to Implement Public Health Care Option / United American Nurses Endorses Single-Payer Plan, Encourages Dialogue among Supporters of Universal Health Care
PRNewswire
June 24, 2009
SILVER SPRING, Md./ -- On the eve of an unprecedented and historic health care reform rally on Capitol Hill (Upper Senate Park, 11:30 a.m., June 25), nurse members and leaders of the United American Nurses, AFL-CIO join with other groups in the Health Care for America Now! coalition to urge Congress to enact a public health care option that is available to everyone. "Staff nurses see every day the implications of a health care delivery system that leaves out too many Americans at too great a cost," said UAN President Ann Converso, RN, who will join UAN members and thousands of others at the June 25 HCAN rally and nurse-doctor town hall meeting to follow.
Senate Panel Hears of Health Insurers' Wrongs / Ex-Insider Testifies to 'Fear Tactics'
By David S. Hilzenrath
Washington Post
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Health insurers have forced consumers to pay billions of dollars in medical bills that the insurers themselves should have paid, according to a report released yesterday by the staff of the Senate Commerce Committee. The report was part of a multi-pronged assault on the credibility of private insurers by Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.). It came at a time when Rockefeller, President Obama and others are seeking to offer a public alternative to private health plans as part of broad health-care reform legislation. Health insurers are doing everything they can to block the public option. At a committee hearing yesterday, three health-care specialists testified that insurers go to great lengths to avoid responsibility for sick people, use deliberately incomprehensible documents to mislead consumers about their benefits, and sell "junk" policies that do not cover needed care. Rockefeller said he was exploring "why consumers get such a raw deal from their insurance companies."
What We Talk About When We Talk About Health Care
By Drew Westen
Washington Post
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 7:42 PM
"Universal health care." "The uninsured." "Public option." These are the buzzwords you often hear from Democrats and proponents of President Obama's plan for health-care reform. But if they want to see that plan enacted, they'd do well to excise those phrases from their vocabulary. Words send messages, but they're not always the messages we intend. Recent polls show overwhelming support for health-care reform, including the "public option" in Obama's plan. But the reality is that which side prevails in this battle will probably depend as much on which one has its messaging right as on which has its policies right.
Editorial: The Drug Industry’s Offer
New York Times
June 25, 2009
President Obama hailed a pledge by the pharmaceutical industry to contribute $80 billion in drug discounts and other savings over the next 10 years as “a significant breakthrough on the road to health care reform.” The pledge should help large numbers of older Americans struggling to pay high drug bills. But before anyone gets too ecstatic, we will need a lot more details about what industry is giving up and what it is getting.
State shutdowns loom as deadlines near / At least 19 states still have to approve their fiscal 2010 budgets before next Tuesday. If they don't, staffers might not be paid and services might shut down.
By Tami Luhby
CNNMoney.com
Last Updated: June 24, 2009: 5:30 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- One week and counting. An unprecedented number of states have only days left to pass their fiscal 2010 budgets. At least 19 states are still hammering out their spending plans as the recession wreaks havoc with their finances and sparks fights between governors and lawmakers. If spending plans aren't approved, state workers may not receive their paychecks and some government offices may shut down. "A lot of states are coming down to the wire," said Todd Haggerty, research analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures. "More than what's typical. The unprecedented economic situation is creating a lot of difficulty this year."
Mayors Targeted as Economic Pain Fuels Recall Bids / Fierce Battles Take Root in Several Cities Where Unemployment Is High and Problems Abound -- but Ousters Are Still Rare
By KRIS MAHER
The Wall Street Journal
June 25, 2009
High unemployment in a handful of economically battered cities is stoking voter anger and prompting efforts to recall some mayors. The Akron, Ohio, mayor survived a recall Tuesday by a large margin. A potential recall looms in the fall across the state, in auto-battered Toledo. Recall efforts also are under way in West New York, N.J., led by residents fuming over potholes and tax increases. … Recall efforts generally follow allegations of scandal or financial misconduct, and this year is no exception. Mayors in three Louisiana towns have been targeted for recall after questionable payments to themselves or town employees. But this year, the economy is playing a greater role. "It's a tool of voter anger and voters are going to be pretty angry, especially when the budgets come due," said Joshua Spivak, a research fellow and expert on recall elections at Wagner College in New York. He expects more recall efforts in the 36 states that allow voter recalls of local officials.
Unemployed Hit the Road to Find Jobs
By JENNIFER LEVITZ
The Wall Street Journal
June 25, 2009
LINCOLN, N.H. -- After seven months without a paycheck, Tim Ryan turned into a werewolf. Laid off from a construction job, Mr. Ryan finally found work last month playing the wolfman at Clark's Trading Post, a tourist attraction in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. For $12 an hour, about half what he made before, he dons furry rags, a coonskin cap and an eye patch and jumps out of the woods when the Trading Post's steam train chugs by, snarling and growling at passengers. The high national jobless rate means that there is plenty of competition for even offbeat jobs, such as that of "Wolfman" at tourist attraction Clark's Trading Post. Jennifer Levitz reports. The job is nearly two hours north of his home in Pittsfield, N.H., too far to commute. So Mr. Ryan sleeps in an old, mold-ridden cottage with no running water that someone lets him use free. "These days, you have to do things you never thought you would," says the 52-year-old. "You have to go to extremes." With the unemployment rate at 9.4%, some Americans are willing to go wherever they can to nab a job, even if it is temporary. To adapt, they find living quarters near the job in campers or cheap apartments, giving up normal family life for a paycheck, in a contemporary echo of the itinerants who roamed the country for work in the Great Depression.
The great sell-off: Chicago auctions city assets / The city is auctioning private assets to the highest bidder. But private ownership of parking meters stirs a backlash.
By Mark Guarino
Christian Science Monitor
June 24, 2009 edition
No city in America beats Chicago when it comes to selling public assets - garages, bridges, even parking meters - and contracting with private companies to supply traditional public services.Over the past five years, the Windy City under Mayor Richard M. Daley has sold or leased out public institutions such as the Chicago Skyway ($1.83 billion), underground garages beneath Grant and Millennium Parks ($563 million), and, more recently, city parking meters ($1.15 billion). That’s not exactly chump change, especially for a city still grappling with a $469 million budget shortfall from last year, not to mention an estimated $300 million deficit this year. But the privatization onslaught is under fire - and the barrage is intensifying amid complaints about a parking-meter deal between the city and Chicago Parking Meters LLC, a Morgan Stanley company.
Obama Set for First Step on Immigration Reform
By GINGER THOMPSON and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
New York Times
June 25, 2009
WASHINGTON — President Obama is expected to meet with Congressional leaders of both parties on Thursday to begin laying the political groundwork for sweeping immigration legislation, even though its passage this year is considered very unlikely. With lawmakers already immersed in health care, financial regulation and energy policy, and with the Senate set to hold hearings soon on Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court, administration officials and many in Congress say it is improbable that they will be able to add anything as challenging as an immigration overhaul. And the clock is not the only obstacle. While there is a consensus that the immigration system is broken, Republicans and Democrats, politically burned over the issue in the recent past, remain divided even within their own parties over how to fix it.
Pelosi embarks on ‘tricky business’ of passing climate bill / A successful vote Friday could give the administration momentum on its biggest priority: healthcare reform.
By Linda Feldmann
Christian Science Monitor
June 24, 2009 edition
If all goes according to the Democrats’ plan, climate change legislation will pass the House on Friday. The vote is likely to be close, and the bill’s contents are not exactly what many environmentalists were hoping for. But the point is to get something of what President Obama wanted, thus allowing him – and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi – to claim victory on a top priority. The bill calls for a reduction in US greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent over 2005 levels by 2020, and a cut of 83 percent by 2050. The mechanism for achieving that goal is a “cap-and-trade” system, in which industries buy and trade permits that allow them to emit carbon in prescribed quantities. During the presidential campaign, Obama promised a cap-and-trade bill that would auction off 100 percent of emission permits. In reality, only a portion will be auctioned, and the rest given away. But in Congress, a win is a win. And victory on the climate change bill – formally called the American Clean Energy and Security Act – would also create a sense of momentum as Congress tackles Obama’s biggest priority, healthcare reform. The willingness of the climate bill’s lead sponsors, Rep. Henry Waxman (D) of California and Rep. Edward Markey (D) of Massachusetts, to make significant compromises in the name of passage could be instructive, analysts say.
Bill to Force Renegotiation of Pending Trade Agreements in House
By Kate Ackley
Roll Call
June 24, 2009, 4:42 p.m.
More than 100 House Members introduced a trade reform bill Wednesday that would put the breaks on pending trade agreements and could result in re-opening existing pacts such as the North American Free Trade Agreement. Supporters of the legislation said it also sets out a new international trade model that would help protect human rights, the environment and U.S. jobs. Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine), who has led the charge against several recent free-trade agreements, and 105 other House Members are backing the Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment Act. … The bill has the support of several progressive organizations, such as Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, environmental groups and all the major unions, including the AFL-CIO and Change to Win.
Obama in ditch on highway fund
By: David Rogers
Politico
June 24, 2009 05:06 AM EST
Amid all its other budget woes, the Obama administration now estimates it will need $20 billion in new savings or revenues to shore up the finances for the highway trust fund until after the 2010 elections. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood confirmed the $20 billion figure to POLITICO after meeting with senators at the Capitol on Monday evening. And with the trust fund running dangerously low by late August, its shaky finances can’t be ignored much longer by Congress. LaHood is pressing for an 18-month reauthorization that will carry the fund through next year’s elections and set the stage for a major debate then on a long-term answer to the problem of declining revenues from federal gasoline taxes. The administration remains opposed to any increase now in the 18.3-cents-per-gallon levy but appears willing to dip into other revenue raisers in the president’s budget in order to close the budget gap.
Rendell gets behind infrastructure bank
By Kevin Bogardus
The Hill
Posted: 06/24/09 05:55 PM [ET]
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) said Wednesday that Congress should create a national infrastructure bank to prevent a conflict between President Obama and lawmakers over earmarks in a transportation bill. Rendell said the new transportation reauthorization bill will be stuffed so full of earmarks that it will test Obama’s resolve to limit spending on parochial projects. “The president and the Congress are on a little bit of a collision course,” Rendell said at a forum on Wednesday hosted by Third Way, a centrist think tank, and Building America’s Future, a pro-infrastructure organization. Rendell said legislation to create a national infrastructure bank would depoliticize the federal government’s infrastructure spending by putting decision-making power in the hands of an oversight board that would direct funds to rebuild America’s bridges, highways and railroads.
Citigroup Plans to Raise Salaries by as Much as 50%
By Josh Fineman
Bloomberg.com
June 24, 2009
June 24 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc., the U.S. bank that got $45 billion of government funds, will raise base salaries by as much as 50 percent to help compensate for a reduction in annual bonuses, a person familiar with the plan said. … The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a union whose members’ pensions own about 3 percent of Morgan Stanley, asked the New York-based bank to reverse the “enormous” increases in base pay given to several executives. The raises “weakened the link between the top executive pay and company performance,” Union President Gerald McEntee wrote in a June 22 letter to the bank. “We urge you to return base salaries to their previous levels and refine your compensation approach to reward executives for long-term value creation, not just showing up for work.”
Citi Salary Plan Rankles Activist Investor
Laurie Kulikowski
TheStreet.com
06/24/09 - 05:30 PM EDT
Citigroup's (C Quote) reported plan to raise employee salaries this year by as much as 50% has rankled at least one activist investor group. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, plans to send Citi a letter criticizing the company's reported plan to change its compensation structure to a plan that does not foster successful performance in the long term. "Our concern is that it seems the bulk of this money will be focused on the traders, so that will create a win-win situation for them ... guaranteeing a very high salary, and then on top of that they will have an additional huge upside because restricted stock is going to be converted into options so that there should be a huge pay day for them in the future," says Rich Ferlauto, AFSCME's director of corporate governance and pension investment. "What we would like to see is appropriate incentives in place for the creation of value," he says.
State/Local
Agencies prep for possible strike at BART
By Sarah Rohrs
Times-Herald (CA)
Posted: 06/25/2009 12:58:58 AM PDT
With the threat of a BART strike looming, Solano County and Bay Area transit agencies are encouraging commuters to line up alternatives. "We do want people around the Bay Area to expect the best but prepare for the worst," Metropolitan Transportation Commission spokesman John Goodwin said. "It's not that early to start planning."
Vallejo Transit would intensify ferry services should a strike become imminent, city Transportation Department Superintendent Crystal Odum Ford said. BART workers have laid the groundwork for a possible strike if negotiations fail. The service carries more than 350,000 riders daily, Goodwin said. A strike is not a foregone conclusion, stressed an American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) negotiator for BART employees. She said the union does not want to strike and would prefer negotiations to continue. "We don't want to put the Bay Area in disarray. We want to continue to sit and talk," said Jean Hamilton, president of the AFSCME Local 3993.
UCLA employees protest proposed pay cuts, furloughs
By Larry Gordon
Los Angeles Times (CA)
June 25, 2009
More than 2,000 UCLA employees, including researchers, custodians, nurses and secretaries, gathered at Pauley Pavilion on Wednesday to protest plans for pay cuts and furloughs proposed by the University of California. Because of the state budget crisis, UC leaders are considering three proposals to reduce payroll spending by about $195 million in the next school year. One plan would cut salaries by 8% for all faculty and staff earning more than $46,000 annually and 4% for those earning less; another would require 21 unpaid furlough days for all employees, and a third would combine pay cuts and furloughs.
California May Be Forced to Issue I.O.U.’s
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
New York Times
Published: June 24, 2009
LOS ANGELES — Signaling that California is slipping deeper into financial crisis, the state’s controller said Wednesday that his office would soon be forced to issue i.o.u.’s to scores of the state’s creditors, as lawmakers failed at their first attempt as a body to close the state’s multibillion-dollar shortfall. If the i.o.u.’s are issued as threatened, it would be the first time since 1992 — when Gov. Pete Wilson paid roughly 100,000 state employees with them — that the warrants were used to hold over those to whom the state owed money. Before that budget crisis, California last issued the warrants during the Depression.
Gov. Crist signs health insurance bill
The Associated Press
The Gainesville Sun (FL)
Published: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 8:34 p.m.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Legislation changing a health insurance billing procedure, which drew support from doctors and opposition from consumer advocates and others, became law on Wednesday with Gov. Charlie Crist's signature. … The health insurance law (SB 1122) will require insurers to send payments directly to out-of-network doctors instead of to patients. … A coalition including the Consumer Federation of the Southeast, Associated Industries of Florida and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, had urged Crist to veto the bill. They argued it could increase out-of-pocket costs for patients and would remove a key incentive for doctors to offer discounts for in-network services, leading to higher premiums for everyone.
Governor signs order authorizing furloughs
By Associated Press
Honolulu Star Bulletin (HI)
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jun 25, 2009
Taking the first official step of her weeks-long promise, Gov. Linda Lingle signed yesterday an executive order to force tens of thousands of state employees to take three unpaid days off each month, starting in July. The governor's furlough plan, which is in the early stages of being challenged in court by three of four state employee unions, could impact 15,600 state workers who are under her direct control. The executive order does not affect the 32,000 employees at the semi-independent Department of Education, University of Hawaii and Hawaii Health Systems Corp. But Lingle has promised to cut appropriations to those agencies starting July 1 in hopes they will furlough their workers as well. There were no immediate comments from the employee unions -- the Hawaii Government Employees Association, the Hawaii State Teachers Association, United Public Workers and the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly.
HGEA joins court battle to halt Lingle furlough plan
Honolulu Advertiser (HI)
Updated at 1:43 p.m., Wednesday, June 24, 2009
The 43,000-member Hawaii Government Employees Association has joined two other public workers' unions in seeking a court injunction against Gov. Linda Lingle's planned furloughs of state workers beginning next month. Legal motions filed by the HGEA yesterday also seek a court ruling that Lingle's back-up plan of laying off thousands of state workers would violate state law and collective bargaining agreements now in force.
Union Asks For Gag Order In Furlough Plan / UPW Wants To Negotiate Without Politicians' Media Statements
KITV.com (HI)
UPDATED: 5:34 pm HST June 24, 2009
The UPW is asking the Labor Board to order the governor and mayor to stop making any statements about negotiations. The UPW filed a complaint about the governor's plan for state furloughs, saying that her plans are an illegal attempt to intimidate the collective bargaining process, officials said.
State Employees Face Pay Cuts, Layoffs
Mike Flannery
CBS2Chicago.com (IL)
Jun 24, 2009 5:48 pm US/Central
If it were up to you, which would you choose? Helping those in need or saving the jobs of thousands of state workers? CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports that's the choice lawmakers are facing. Instead of cutting the social services budget, they could cut thousands of employees. Springfield in many ways is a company town, and that company is state government. And despite the Wednesday's sunny weather, the mood measurably darkened when talk here turned to cutting the pay and/or laying off thousands of state employees. … The governor asked state employee unions to agree to 12 unpaid furlough days, equivalent to a 4.6 percent pay cut. Now with legislative leaders demanding more cuts, Pat Quinn is preparing big layoffs. "We have to do what we have to do based on our budget and based on our revenue," Quinn said. "It's going to mean severe discipline in spending. I want to try and do this in as humane a way as possible."
Peabody custodians union says no to concessions
By Stacie N. Galang
The Salem News (MA)
June 25, 2009
PEABODY — The lone union to meet with the School Committee's negotiations team on concessions has decided against giving up any benefits or raises, said the committee's finance chairman, David McGeney. The School Committee approved the contract for the union representing custodians — the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — Tuesday night. The package reflects the same pay increases and benefit changes as other school unions, that is, a 12 percent pay increase over four years and shouldering a higher proportion of the employees health care benefits. Russell Gallant, president of AFSCME Local 364, said yesterday that the union for custodians, clerical workers and bus drivers overwhelmingly approved the contract. Then, they were given three additional choices as concessions. First, they could take the raises with two positions cut, the choice a majority approved. The second option was to keep the jobs and defer 1.5 percent of their raises and take a one-day furlough, but be guaranteed no further layoffs in the fiscal year. The third choice was to keep the jobs and defer 2 percent of their raises with a guarantee of no layoffs during the year. Gallant said the approximately 150 union members had to decide what worked best financially as individuals. No one wants to see anyone lose a job, he said.
Labor union OKs 4-year contract with Hempstead
BY EDEN LAIKIN
Newsday (NY)
9:23 PM EDT, June 24, 2009
The Town of Hempstead's 2,100-member employee union Wednesday approved a four-year contract that requires new employees to pay more toward the cost of their health insurance. The vote was 877-278, union officials said. The town board is expected to vote on the contract July 7. Under terms of the contract, employees will pay part of the cost of their health care plans for 10 years: 15 percent of the cost in each of the first four years, then 10 percent for the next six. Existing employees will continue to pay nothing toward the costs. The pending agreement with the Civil Service Employees Association also provides for salary increases of between 2 and 3.75 percent each year and an increase in the number of vacation days an employee can accumulate, to 100 days from 80. The day after Thanksgiving would become a recognized holiday and, in exchange, the Lincoln's Birthday and Washington's Birthday holidays would be combined into one Presidents' Day.
Unions negotiating with town / Both sides say they're trying to avoid layoffs
BY BRIAN HARMON
Suffolk Times (NY)
June 25, 2009
Union leaders are expected to meet with town officials again this week to discuss how the town can avoid laying off 17 workers. Town Councilman Albert Krupski said no specific ideas were discussed during the town's meeting last Thursday with representatives of the Civil Service Employees Association. "The positive thing is that we've been asking to meet with the [CSEA] union since last October, and now, the union has offered us the olive branch," said Mr. Krupski, who participated in part of the meeting. "There were no specifics discussed at the meeting. It was more of an informational meeting."
Onondaga County lawmaker wants Mahoney to study four-day employee workweek
by John Mariani
The Post-Standard (NY)
Wednesday June 24, 2009, 5:16 PM
Syracuse, NY -- A county legislator is proposing to find out whether Onondaga County could save money by having more of its employees work four days a week instead of five. Mark Stanczyk, D-Syracuse, filed a bill with the Legislature office this week that would ask County Executive Joanie Mahoney to study the feasibility of shifting all or some departments to a four-day workweek, and to find out how much the county could save by doing so. The study would have to take into account requirements under the county's labor contracts. Mahoney would report the findings during this fall's 2010 budget hearings and, if savings are possible, present a plan to implement a four-day week. Stanczyk, the Democratic floor leader, said he will seek the Legislature's approval at its July 7 session. "Basically, we're saying it's hard times. This might be a good way for us to save money without reduction of work force," Stanczyk said. … The county's contract with CSEA Local 834, its largest union, already allows for flexible hours, including compressed workweeks, union spokesman Mark Kotzin said. Union officials are willing to look at expanding what is already in the contract to help the county save money, but any changes requiring new contract language must be negotiated with union leaders and ratified by the members, he said.
CSEA to picket mayors’ meeting at City Center
By Andrew J. Bernstein
The Saratogian (NY)
Published: Thursday, June 25, 2009
SARATOGA SPRINGS — A giant inflatable rat will play the role of gate crasher at next week’s meeting of mayors from across the state at the City Center. Still in the process of negotiating contracts with the city, members of the two largest city unions, CSEA-DPW and CSEA-City Hall, will stage an informational picket Tuesday at 3:15 p.m. Negotiations between the city and CSEA-DPW broke down in early June, when the last of three mediation sessions ended with the union leaving the table. "We’re protesting the fact that throughout the negotiations, the mayor would threaten us with layoffs if we sought compensation," said Joe O’Neil, president of the CSEA-DPW union. "At one point we offered to take a ‘zero’ without a guarantee that there wouldn’t be layoffs, and that still wasn’t good enough."
Unions rally against pension idea / Leaders say they intend no political harm in opposing Strickland's plan
By Mark Niquette
The Columbus Dispatch (OH)
Thursday, June 25, 2009 3:20 AM
Leaders of a dozen Ohio unions gathered yesterday at the Statehouse to protest Gov. Ted Strickland's proposal to borrow from the largest state pension fund as a way to help balance the state budget. The union groups, long a solid Democratic constituency, said they were not trying to embarrass or hurt the Democratic governor politically, but they insisted that his proposal affecting the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, or PERS, cannot stand. "We think it is the wrong proposal at the wrong time," said Eddie L. Parks, president of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association and a member of the PERS board. "We cannot afford to rob Peter to pay Paul."
AFSCME OKs two-year Mansfield pact
By LINDA MARTZ
News Journal (OH)
June 25, 2009
MANSFIELD -- City workers agreed to a new union contract that freezes wages and contains minor changes likely to save the City of Mansfield money.Members of Local 1295 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees ratified a new two-year contract Wednesday. The contract, approved 64-40 and retroactive to May, eliminates the option to take cash for unused sick leave and vacation time. Workers who have already accumulated time can swap it for comp time. The new agreement also will allow employees in most city offices to work four 10-hour days. Exempt from this option will be 9-1-1 dispatchers and those staffing the water plant and water treatment facility. "We tried to work with the city as much as we could. We know there's a possibility there could be more layoffs down the line," Local 1295 President Mark Abrams said Wednesday.
House passes $7.76-billion budget
By Steve Peoples, Cynthia Needham and Katherine Gregg
Providence Journal (RI)
June 25, 2009
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Minutes before 2 a.m., after a debate that spanned nearly 11 hours, the House of Representatives approved a $7.76-billion state spending plan that wiped out millions of dollars to cities and towns, narrowed pension benefits for thousands of state workers and teachers, and boosted Rhode Island's gasoline tax by 2 cents per gallon. Forced to close the largest budget deficit in recent memory - a $590-million gap, close to 20 percent of state-only spending - lawmakers could have done far more to taxpayers and those who rely on subsidized human service programs. Thanks, in part, to a heavy reliance on federal stimulus dollars, there were no sales or income tax increases. Legislators also resisted one tax break for high earners but left untouched another. And they restored looming cuts to prescription drug programs for seniors and subsidized dental coverage. But Democratic leaders met heavy resistance from anxious lawmakers on cuts to municipalities and pension changes, among other issues. "This is a time for profiles in courage," House Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox, during a heated pension discussion. "Any of you who feel you can't make these decisions, get up and leave. You're here to be leaders."
State health plans may get big hike / Benefits: Some workers may pay double in 2010
ADAM WILSON
The Olympian (WA)
Published June 25, 2009
Some state workers likely will take a serious financial hit next year, when some health-care co-payments and deductibles are expected to double. The Public Employees Benefits Board is considering the increase to make up for rising costs and flat-lined funding. The most popular offering, the Uniform Medical Plan, will not see the steepest out-of-pocket increases. The share of costs paid by members of that plan will rise from 10 percent to 15 percent, and the out-of-pocket maximum will increase from $3,000 a year for a family to $4,000. … “The benefit changes outlined here are not unexpected. They are pressing. There are going to be far-reaching impacts on state employees,” said Greg Devereux, a member of the benefits board and the executive director of the Washington Federation of State Employees. He noted that state employees face budget cuts and layoffs in agencies, and the union had to give up raises it negotiated less than a year ago. “We need to pay attention to what we are doing to the work force,” he said. “There has always been, with the state, a trade-off between wages and benefits, and now we are trading both.”
County union workers not willing to reopen contracts
By Leader-Telegram staff (WI)
June 25, 2009
Unions representing about 60 percent of the Eau Claire County government workforce declined a request to reopen their contracts to freeze next year's staffing costs... County Administrator J. Thomas McCarty said the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and Teamsters bargaining units - which mostly are courthouse support and airport maintenance staff - did agree to meet with the county to talk about other proposals. "At least they're indicating a willingness to meet," McCarty said Wednesday.
Mandatory Furloughs for State Employees Challenging for UW Schools
Reported by Kristen Elicerio
WKBT.com (WI)
Updated: June 24, 2009 07:20 PM
To help fight the multi-billion dollar budget deficit, Governor Jim Doyle is telling all state workers they must take mandatory unpaid vacation. While this plan will save the state money, it's presenting problems for UW schools. …The new plan says that all UW-La Crosse employees with a 12-month contract take 8 days of furlough, or unpaid vacation. Those with a 9-month contract must take 6 days. One of the problems universities face is taking furlough days without affecting student education. "Unfortunately it means we're going to have less service from the state and at a university like UW-L we have to be very careful that we don't take furloughs in a way that means students get less for the tuition dollars they pay," said Joe Gow, UW-La Crosse Chancellor. In addition, UW-L has faculty who are contracted for only a semester at a time those who qualify for over time and those who don't. The university also has staff who are represented by unions and some who are not making it difficult to find a single plan that works for everyone.