(DES MOINES) – Today, results of the AFSCME contract negotiations between the state of Iowa and the union were made known. Key provisions:
· The contract costs $94 million less than it would have under the contract approved two years ago, providing direct savings to the taxpayers of Iowa.
· Iowa will continue to be one of only six states in the country where the overwhelming majority of state employees pay nothing toward their health insurance
Gov. Terry E. Branstad today released the following statement in response to today’s decision on the AFSCME contract.
“I want to commend everyone who was involved in negotiating this contract. The negotiations were aggressive and were professionally conducted by all parties.
“We were able to come to an agreement with AFSCME on two of the three major components of the new contract and for the first time in bargaining history there will be no across-the-board pay increases for the duration of the contract.
“I am disappointed that Iowa will continue to be one of only six states where the overwhelming majority of state employees will continue to pay nothing toward their health insurance. This is simply unfair to the vast majority of Iowans who pay some, if not all, of their own health insurance cost and whose tax dollars continue to fund this expensive benefit for most state employees.
“I will continue to ask state workers to join those in the SPOC union who agreed to pay just 20 percent of their health care premiums, with the opportunity to pay less as they become healthier and participate in life-enhancing wellness programs. It is right, it is fair, and it will make our state worker population healthier. Everyone wins when state workers contribute to make their lives healthier. That said, arbitrating an impasse item like health insurance is a part of our system. We will live with today’s result.
“These negotiations demonstrate that we can obtain fair results. Unlike two years ago, this administration made sure taxpayers were actually represented in these negotiations. When Gov. Culver simply took the unions’ first demand, taxpayers were socked with a $202 million bill. As a result of our efforts, the cost of this contract is $94 million less than it would have been under the previous contract. This is real savings for Iowa taxpayers and I am pleased the unions agreed to these terms.”
——–
AFSCME Iowa Council 61 President Danny Homan issued the following statement regarding Arbitrator Marvin Hill, Jr.’s arbitration award that was opened today:
“During the arbitration hearing, our Union made clear that state employees have repeatedly made wage concessions and plan design changes to maintain their health insurance. We demonstrated that the state currently has historic surpluses and that state government’s health insurance costs for employees have been stable over the past several years. We also noted that the State’s Final Offer on health insurance was nothing more than cost shifting; it did absolutely nothing to lower the overall cost of the State’s health insurance plans. We pointed out that the State’s Final Offer would basically be a large pay cut for state employees. We also showed that the Aon Hewitt wage and benefits studies were flawed; these studies used one comparability group for the wage comparison and then used a different comparability group for the health insurance comparison.
“We are pleased that the arbitrator recognized that the Union’s Final Offer was the most reasonable proposal and that the appropriate decision was to support AFSCME Iowa Council 61’s Final Offer on health insurance.
“With this fair and final decision, AFSCME members are pleased that we will be able to look forward and focus on providing public services to Iowans.”
Good day I am so excited I found your weblog, I really found you by error,
while I was looking on Askjeeve for something else, Anyways I am here now and would
just like to say many thanks for a remarkable post and a all round thrilling blog (I also love
the theme/design), I don’t have time to browse
it all at the moment but I have bookmarked it and also added
in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read more, Please do keep up the great jo.
” Do you really think someone on a assembly line putting in a couple of bolts is worth 65K p/year? Wake up.”
Without question, I do.
1.)Because no one held a gun to the head of the employer who agreed to pay them that high a wage.
2.)Because $65,000 really is not a lot of money compared to the cost of living (unless you have cream of mushroom soup three times a day, once without crackers – rent instead of own – drive a used car driving no more than 3 miles a day except Sunday – keep your home at 50° in the winter – and burn yak fat lanterns for lighting).
3.)Because in 1959 when Dad purchased his home, he was earning $35,000 a year as a journeyman typesetter.
4.)Because envy does not an economy make.
@sad but true, LVS, can you two whiners name me a profession you don’t think is overpaid and over-valued, and given too many benefits?
@bodacious-sure, train engineers are paid what they deserve.
Do you know how much train engineers average in pay? And, if you do, either you were an engineer or one of your kids is. Their salary and benefits are probably more than most civil service workers. And can you give me one reason why you think they are paid “what they deserve’?
Didn’t expect you to respond to facts.
yes, all of the above, overpaid
All of you who are complaining may not really know what AFSCME represents. And if you did, you might not be so quick to say they are “overpaid”. Hint, hint LVS. Some of the people AFSCME represents are law enforcement and correctional officers, home health care and child care providers, firefighters, mental health workers, professional school staff and emergency responders. Do you really think our law enforcement and firefighters are overpaid? What about the rest of them? You guys are so quick to throw everyone under the bus without knowing the facts.
@bodacious-yes I do.
If they are overpaid, I imagine then we can cut our budget by cutting the numbers of each sector of public service. So, let’s have fewer police, firefighters, EMTs, and mental health care workers so you really have something to complain about when you say they aren’t doing enough to protect you. Or, do you think by cutting their salaries then more people will want to do those jobs? Yeah, that sounds right-less pay more people
If the pay was lowered to a reasonable amount with decent but not over the top benefits there would be lots of people who would go after the jobs. They are supposed to be public servants and we pay for their training, pay for their insurance and their family’s insurance, pay for retirement and pay them a very good salary on top of all that and they are still greedy and want more, more, more.
Who would have expected anything any differently from an arbitrator? The majority of the ones I have met come from a union background to begin with. Who’s side do you think they will see when they render their verdicts????
“With this fair and final decision, AFSCME members are pleased that we will be able to look forward and focus on providing public services to Iowans.”
Iowa Council 61 President Danny Homan, forgot to add that union members are laughing so hard about this ruling, their guts hurt.
Hey LVS those guys do pay union dues and its only the single people that get free insurance, its the union that fights for the things you are crying about. non union employers can do what ever they want to you and thats what the hell is wrong with this country. When Regan screwed the air traffic controllers thats when this country went to hell. Thank you replublicans. I would love not to have to pay for insurance but like you I work for a non union company that makes millons of $$$$ and I get a little over min wage. There arent many union jobs anymore as most people dont give a shit what they make but love to bitch when others get more
@smoothy-are you really that dumb? The reason your prices are so damn high is the unions. The reasons your taxes are so damn high is the unions. When you have union leaders making millions what does that tell you. I don’t know how many union people have told me they would live to get out of the unions but were afraid to because of the knuckle draggers. It wouldn’t be so bad if they worked for their money but they don’t. Do you really think someone on a assembly line putting in a couple of bolts is worth 65K p/year? Wake up.
LVS anything you enjoyed when you were working,ie paid vacation, paid holidays, work comp, sick pay, overtime pay, health insurance, 40 hour work week, pensions, and more were brought to you by these evil unions. I don’t believe you didn’t have most of these benifits where you worked. Union or not, unions did this for you. They also helped to keep pay scales above minimum wage for years. Do you for 1 second think corporate Amarica would ever give you those rewards just because? If you and people that think like you had their way goverment employee’s would be working for minimum wage with no benifits. Remember…you get what you pay for!!
The demise of unions is much of what is wrong today. If it weren’t for unions you would most likely still be working somewhere for $5.00 per hour at best.
@happy guy-you are correct but, Unions are becoming obsolete because they are pricing themselves out of the market. Mostly in Iowa it is the public unions that are still viable. Why is that? When they demand more than they are worth company’s will take their business elsewhere and they have. The unskilled jobs have mostly been engineered out of existence. Even truck drivers are no longer safe and you know it. Look at your old company and the financial troubles they have. If you want a decent paying job today be one of the engineers that figure out how to do things cheaper or become a tradesman like a electrician, programmer, machinist, carpenter or plumber. The old days of unions for unskilled workers are gone. Look at what our town has lost. All of the big union plants have closed and went to Mexico. People need to wake up. Even truck drivers will go in the next few years. They are already working on it. Robots can drive now.
LVS my old company is recording record profits while paying their teamster drivers over $30 per hour. They are not in trouble at all. Not sure where you got your info on that. They pay a fair days wages for a more than fair days work. Just as it should be.
@happy guy-you really should watch the news somewhere besides MSNBC.
@happy guy-My mistake. It was your competitor that has problems. However, I am willing to bet that your company is looking for ways to cut back on wages. If they are really paying $30.00 p/hr. (And you say they are and I believe you) that is a lot of money that could go to the shareholders. I think the thing that is saving you is they really can’t move truck driving to Mexico. But, they are developing robots that can drive from point to point. Watch out in the next few years. get a job as the engineer developing the robots. Then you will be safe. (not you personally)
This is a good deal and instead of knocking these employees for getting health insurance we should all work at getting all working americans paid insurance.
Union members also gave up across the board pay increases for the next two years to keep health care as is.
Big deal. They are overpaid anyway.
They are giving up nothing. Since when is a surplus of Iowas taxpayer money reason they should get any concessions. That is everyones money. It is not there because of the great job they do it is there because we have overpaid. Lets give raises on account of merit of the individuals not group power.
Blah, blah, blah-what they are really saying is that it cost us around 108 million MORE over the life of the contract. Such a deal for us taxpayers.