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Tentative Agreement Reached to Avoid Rolling Furloughs
C13 Exec. Dir. David R. Fillman; Kathy Jellison, SEIU L668 Pres.; and Wendell Young, UFCW L1776 Pres.; have reached a tentative agreement with the Governor’s Office to avoid rolling furloughs. This tentative agreement is subject to ratification by members of all 3 unions.
Per the tentative agreement, the commonwealth’s health care benefit contribution rate will be temporarily reduced by 20%. The reduced employer contributions will take effect April 2009 through June 2010. The agreement requires maintaining a minimum reserve of 1 month’s worth of health care payments. In addition, the commonwealth is committed to paying back the fund in monthly installments starting as early as September 2010.
There will be NO reduction in the level of benefits provided by the PEBTF. There will no NO additional employee contributions, other than contractually provided. There will be NO wage or benefit concessions, or other contract changes. In addition, employees will continue to have the option to cut their contribution in half by participating in PEBTF’s Get Healthy Program.
“The current PEBTF surplus is a direct result of the fund running efficiently with help from all employees long before this crisis came about,” said C13 Exec. Dir. David R. Fillman . “It was imperative to prevent these rolling furloughs and it was imperative not to open the contract for concessions – this deferred payment method gave us the alternative we needed.”
Fillman added, “We saw what happened in 2007 when services were shut down for one day – monthly rolling furloughs would have created total chaos. And once again, ‘essential’ and ‘non-essential’ would have reared its ugly head.”
Kathy Jellison, SEIU L668 Pres. said, “We’re recommending that our members vote to ratify this agreement. Once ratified, we expect the Governor to give equally serious consideration to our numerous other cost-saving suggestions.” Added Jellison, “The unions have been doing their part all along to work with the commonwealth to maintain quality services to Pennsylvania ’s citizens. We’re satisfied that this agreement to temporarily defer payments to the PEBTF will address the commonwealth’s economic concerns. I also expect the Governor to live up to the terms and conditions of this agreement to fully repay the delayed contributions in the future.”
Wendell Young, UFCW L1776 Pres. said the agreement is “good for the members of each of our unions and good for the citizens of the Commonwealth. It avoids rolling furloughs and balances in a fair way the needs of the State and our members. It protects the provisions of our contracts with the State, and is a fair approach to a fiscal challenge that if left unaddressed could impact the welfare of state employees even though they bear no responsibility for the budget shortfalls.”
The tentative agreement will be sent to the membership for a vote.
More details will be discussed with the state Local Presidents on a conference call on April 3, 2009 .
Ongoing cost-saving discussions will continue. Bargaining unit members are encouraged to continue to visit www.AFSCME13.org for updates.
Winners for the 2008 Harry Leech Scholarship are as follows:
Michelle Dunst , Daughter of Brian Dunst
Kimberly Pavilonis, Daughter of Michael J. Pavilonis
Local 2459 wishes the two winners continued success
Winners for the 2007 Harry Leech Scholarship are as follows:
Alexis Sergeant, Daughter of John Sergeant
Kayla Williams , Daughter of Heidi D, Williams
Local 2459 wishes the two winners continued success