Update 2: Board member Larry Metz will "pull" this issue for public discussion. He is also trying to get a better analysis of the cost impact of all the contract changes. He also said that in the case of paying for 50% of the health benefits of employees working 4-6 hours, that is a SAVINGS because the prior policy was to pay 100% (we assume) of their health insurance premiums. It was not clear to me in the contract, and Metz will review for better ways to explain justifications of wage changes like this. vj 5:30pm Monday.
Updated: See the review of the new union agreement at the bottom of this document.
Original Article posted around 9:45 am today:
This is why no one trusts government and their elected officials. The public needs to contact their School Board members and complain about SECRET meetings and attempts to hide the decision results of salary increases by burying it in the agenda.
This is not an attack on employees, but rather about the secretive process and lack of transparency for the reasons for the increases given to employees. It could be there are reasonable explanations, but when the Board tries to avoid discussing the topic or scheduling public input, something smells about the process.
One of the School Board members, Cindy Barrow, Larry Metz, Kyleen Fischer, Debbie Stivender or Roseanne Brandeburg needs to PULL the agenda item from the Consent list and have a public discussion where EACH Board member discusses their reasoning for this wage increase in the current economy. Wages should be rolled back to be in line with economic indicators, not increased. There are a number of enhanced benefits described in my review of the contract at the bottom of this document, but I have not found where the Union agreed to anything that offsets the increases in pay, benefits, free facilities, etc. This was a giveaway contract in the current economy and...
indicates at least three Board members are giving the farm away to the Union demands.
This evening, the Lake County (FL) School Board will have their regular 6pm business meeting. You can find the agenda HERE. At the linked page, if you go to "Calendar" and click it, you can see the listing for today, June 14 (but I could not open the meeting link using Firefox - I had to switch to Microsoft's Internet explorer). If you click on the June 14 link, you SHOULD get a popup box that lists a link for the meeting agenda, and if you click that, you get the Agenda. If you scroll down to agenda "Consent" agenda item 8.15 for tonight's meeting, it just says this:
8.15 Tentative Agreement: 2009-2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement (SEIU) (Laurie Marshall, Executive Director of Human Resources and Employee Relations)8.15
Notice there IS NO HINT THAT THIS AGENDA ITEM IS TO APPROVE A 1.5% WAGE INCREASE TO THE NON-INSTRUCTIONAL SEIEU UNION MEMBERS, AND IT IS THE FIRST YEAR OF A THREE YEAR CONTRACT, AND FOR THE CURRENT BUDGET YEAR 2009-2010, IT WILL INCREASE COSTS BY $630,000.
Additionally, after reviewing the contract, the above amount is misleading, because a number of benefits don't kick in until NEXT years, thus the Board is not disclosing the total projected cost of all the benefits they have approved. There is NO COST ESTIMATE for many of the increased benefits. Thus the true annual cost may be THREE TIMES more than the disclosed amount for Fiscal year 2009-2010
The result, is like the earlier Teacher's Union agreement, the unions in a SECRET, closed meeting with the Board, got them to pass the increases even in this economy. The effect is to use up available budgeted funds and lock in wages for the next three years, putting pressure on the Board to then cut emotionally charged programs like "courtesy busing" or the Pre-K program, OR to raise your taxes. This has to stop, and the public needs to contact their School Board members and complain about SECRET meetings and attempts to hide the decision results by burying it in the agenda.
This tactic also covered up the change in the contract from being the second in a 3 year contract to being the FIRST year of a NEW three year contract. The public has no idea what changes were negotiated and whether the Union was given everything they wanted because they controlled at least three votes, or that there were some tradeoffs.
This secret method of negotiating wages has to stop, and be more transparent so the public knows who on the Board would vote to INCREASE wages in such a disastrous economy.
NOTE: I am researching the 96 page agreement (see link below) and will post updates at the BOTTOM of this document.
- This agreement may be retroactive. Why would any organization wait for nine months past the start of a fiscal year to negotiate a retroactive pay increase? Maybe because the Board plans to put tax increases on the ballots? (another story, but it is coming).
If you go to tonight's Board meeting (6pm in the Round County Admin building in Tavares), here are some questions to ask during public input. Turn in a public input card BEFORE the meeting starts and say you want to provide public input on Agenda item 8.15, and hope one of the Board members is smart enough to "pull" the agenda from the "consent" section so it can be discussed. Then they should call you when they reach that agenda item for discussion. If the Board does NOT pull agenda item 8.15 for public input, complain to the Board members during any break, or provide public input at the end of the meeting. Here are some questions to consider:
Questions to provide during public input on agenda item 8.15 Tentative Agreement: 2009-2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement (SEIU)
- Why did the Board try to hide the 1.5% $650,000 wage increase by burying it in the consent agenda without even explaining the fiscal impact in the main agenda document?
- Was the salary agreement retroactive? Why? Why did they delay this decision for over HALF a year into the current budget year?
- Why do they have SECRET meetings with no public input or minutes on wage decisions when taxpayer funds are being used?
- What Board members received promises of help in upcoming elections from Unions in return for passing the wage increase in a SECRET meeting?
- Each Board member needs to explain why they voted for the increase. Each person providing public input should explain their feelings about giving government workers an increase in this down economy and should share personal stories about what they see in the economy and whether they agree or disagree with the wage increases (and benefits too…)
- Ask the Board members are they intending now to request property tax increases because they have used up more of the District’s remaining fund balance so that fewer funds will exist at the end of the year. Will the Board then use the reduced fund balance as an excuse to justify tax increases?
s
==========================================================================
Here is the excerpt from the separate budget details supporting the agenda item. You have to know to go back to the first link I gave you, and click "Board Docs", then "Public", then find and open the June 14 agenda. In this separate "Board Docs" version of the agenda (wording is the same, but they have links to supporting details), you scroll down to the same agenda item 8.15 and on the left are more specifics, with budget impact, but a lot of vague wording about benefits, etc. You have to open the two linked documents to get the juicy details.
Agenda Item Details
BACKGROUND and RATIONALE: The School Board and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), reached tentative agreement on a variety of contract issues on May 19, 2010 and the Agreement was ratified on May 27, 2010. The issues agreed upon include monetary issues – the salary table for bargaining unit employees and the group medical/health plan – along with language changes in various sections of the Agreement. This is the first year of a three-year contract.
Approval of the 2009-2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement between the SEIU and the School Board of Lake County by the Union and the School Board is extremely important for the terms and conditions of employment for in-unit non-instructional employees and the management of our schools by administrators.
This agenda item supports Strategic Focus Area #4 of the School
Board's Strategic Plan and is beneficial to the students because high
performing and highly qualified employees are essential for delivering
and supporting quality instruction.
ALTERNATIVES:
1. Approve the 2009-2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement between the SEIU and the School Board of Lake County.
2. Not approve the 2009-2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement between the SEIU and the School Board of Lake County.
RECOMMENDATION: I recommend the Board approve the 2009-2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement between the SEIU and the School Board of Lake County.
FISCAL IMPACT: The financial impact to the district of the 2009-2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement between the SEIU and the School Board of Lake County is approximately $630,073.41, including benefits, and represents a 1.5% wage increase.
DATA SOURCE: Rebecca
Nelsen, Supervisor, Employee Relations prepared this agenda item.
Please contact her at 253-6519 with questions and comments. A hard copy
of this 94 page agreement is available for review in the Superintendent's
office.
SEIU Pay Table 09-10.pdf (38 KB)
Here are interesting items I found in my review of the above "Tentative Agreement".
Please note that all the modifications to the current agreement were to ADD payments or benefits and there do not seem to be any tradeoffs at all. Thus MORE, MORE, MORE seems to be the result of this "negotiation", which indicates all incumbents have to be voted out (Note: Th original online copy has strikeouts which do not show up in this blog editor, thus my summaries are based on the new version, but some old text may be in the excerpts I inserted below - thus go to the original agreement in the above link to see the original "marked up" or revisions.):
a. The District is giving the union the right to use internal District email to communicate with union members. So, your tax dollars are not going to subsidize union organization efforts. If they do this, then public interest groups should also be able to send messages to the members. I noted that the agreement already has terms that provide County courier service, in house mail boxes, payment of wages for one person year for "union business leave" and other services to the Union at no charge. If we add up all the internal services provided the unions, it might be interesting to see the costs.
72 J. The SEIU Union Representative shall be entitled to use the district’s e-mail
73 system for the purpose of updating Union Representatives on Bargaining,
74 committee meetings, new or changed contract language, ratification votes
75 and Employee Appreciation Week. The use of the district’s e-mail system will
76 be closely monitored by the district’s ETS Department. The Superintendent
77 or her designee reserves the right to deny the use of the district’s e-mail
78 system and such denial shall be non-grievable.
b. Free use of facilities for "employee appreciation" day increased 500% to "employee appreciation week". You cannot see the strikeouts in this copy below, but in the agreement, it shows the District changed the wording to expand this benefit from one day of free facilities to FIVE DAYS. Thus there are facilities now provided for FIVE days by the districts for Union indoctrination during an election year.:
214 Section 6 – Employee Appreciation Day Week.
215 Employee Appreciation Week- The Union shall be permitted to utilize
216 District facilities, without charge, during Employee Appreciation Week , to honor and recognize work done by classified
218 employees of the District. The Union shall be permitted to present a program
219 during lunch times and break times as well as before and after regular work
220 hours as part of Appreciation Week. It is agreed that activities associated
221 with the Employee Appreciation Week will proceed in such a manner as not
222 to disrupt the normal activities and services of the School District. The Board
223 recognizes the benefits to be gained by classified employees as a result of this
224 activity and agrees to encourage participation in Employee Appreciation
225 Week as a way to ensure a spirit of confidence and cooperation between the
226 Board and its employees.
C. Retroactive 1.5% Wage Increase - here it is, the section that states the wage increase approved NINE MONTHS after the start of the fiscal year, is retroactive to the start of the fiscal year. This agreement also gives a "one time 4.75% bonus" to the most senior employees. That is part of a method used to increase final wages for people retiring so they get even more retirement income than you or I would from a private firm. What is to prevent them giving another bonus to most senior employees in the next three year contract?:
1 Section 1 – Salary.
2 Beginning July 1, 2007 2009, eligible current employees will receive a 1.5
3 percent increase to their current hourly rate. step increase on the new, improved
4 pay table. Eligible employee is defined as an employee who has been employed
5 by the district for one day more than one-half the calendar work year prior to July
6 1. The improved pay table with a step increase equals an overall 4.75% increase
7 to the 2006-07 hourly rate. The movement on the pay table will be as follows:
8 Eligible employees on indices zero through 17 will move up one step.
9 Employees on index 18 will remain on 18 and additionally receive a 1.25% one10
time bonus. This is the new top index. Employees on index 19 will receive a
11 one-time bonus of 4.75% to the 2006-07 salary and move to index 18. The 1.5
12 percent wage increase will be reflected on the improved pay table.
D. Teacher's Assistants get additional NINE PERCENT increase in their bi-annual supplement of $550. I am not sure if they also get a salary, but this is a NINE PERCENT increase in wages in a down economy. The Board members should be asked to justify such an increase.
100 G. The Board shall provide Teacher Assistants with an Associate’s degree or
101 higher from an accredited college or university an annual a bi-annual supplement
102 of $550.00 totaling $600.00, which shall be subject to deductions for retirement,
103 Medicare and the like as with any other compensation, for the 2007-2008
104 beginning 2010-2011school year. The bi-annual supplement payment of $300.00
105 shall be paid no later than the last payday of December and final payment of
106 $300.00 to be paid on the last check at the end of the school year. Teacher
107 Assistants who are hired after the start date for the position or who receive their
108 degree during the year will receive a prorated amount. The prorated amount
109 shall be calculated using the number of days the employee works in the position
110 divided by the number of workdays for which supplement is being paid (August –
111 December)_ and (January – June). Supplement for the 2009-2010 school year
112 will be paid as it has in the past.
E. The Board has agreed to continue paying the full (or pro-rated for some plans) cost of health care for full time employees, but will now also pay employees the same benefits cost for those who work only 6 hours a day (or 30 hours a week), so that is a huge increase for employees working between 6 & 8 hours in this down economy. ADDITIONALLY, THE BOARD WILL ALSO PAY 50% OF EMPLOYEE HEALTH INSURANCE IF THEY ONLY WORK 4-6 HOURS A DAY. THIS IS NEW AND ANOTHER BENEFIT CREEP PATTERN. A different section of the agreement specifies that bus drivers are guaranteed 4.5 hours of work per day, thus this section means they now are paying 50% of health insurance for ALL bus drivers, which apparently did not happen before. There are no specific caps, such as the amount is only payable if total health insurance costs do not increase from a 2003 cost index. Thus there are no cost controls or agreements from the Union to ensure overall health insurance costs are not increased. (Note: The School Board was recently told that the District moved to a self funded program that saved hundreds of thousands of dollars, thus they appear to be giving the savings away to the Unions without any offsetting commitments or spending caps):
1 Section 1 – Health Insurance.
2 For the 2007-2008 contract period Beginning July 1, 2010, the Board will pay
3 either its pro-rated contribution toward the insurance premium or payment of the
4 full premium of Blue Options plans and partial premium on the Blue Choice Plan,
5 whichever is applicable to each employee, as prescribed on the current schedule
6 of benefits of the approved School Board group medical and health insurance
7 programs for a full-time employee all employees who work four (4) six (6) hours
8 or more per day, or thirty (30) hours or more per week. Also beginning July 1,
9 2010, the Board will pay fifty percent of the premium for employees who work
10 four (4) to less than six (6) hours per day, or twenty (20) to less than thirty (30)
11 hours per week.
F. It appears the Board will start paying in FY 2010-2011 the FULL health care plan premium for individual employees (and not 85% like most businesses). This section also INCREASED District expenses by not only paying Life Insurance (most businesses only pay for a minimal rate, and the employee pays for increased coverage), but they seem to now be paying for Accidental Death and dismemberment Insurance AND the cost of an EAP program (which could be normal, but an EAP program covers basic visits and there is no description of how much this costs).
B. For the 2010-2011 contract period, the Board will pay the full
20 premium payment for eligible employees selecting any Blue Options Health and
21 Hospitalization Plan. Bargaining unit employees, who elect to have child, spouse
24 and /or family coverage, will pay premiums for child, spouse and /or family
25 coverage. The Board will pay the cost of an eligible individual employee’s Life
27 and Accidental Death and dismemberment Insurance and the cost for the
28 Employee Assistance Program.- end of review -
vj
