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IFO addresses issues
By Carol Seavey
Published:
Monday, September 29, 2003
A state-proposed employee contract would eliminate pay incentive for faculty.
Under the current contract, faculty get a one-step pay increase each year or a two-step increase if they get a promotion. In the new contract, a person could be promoted from associate to full professor without a raise, but his or her title would change.
"It would have a profound and very bad effect on our ability to recruit people (faculty)," said Bill Langen, Inter Faculty Organization (IFO) union negotiator for SCSU.
The IFO, which represents assistant, associate, fixed term, adjunct and full professors at state colleges and universities, bargains with the Department of Employee Relations through Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) representatives. SCSU has about 650 IFO members, 27 percent of the total membership.
IFO and MnSCU negotiators have met a couple of times and exchanged economic and language proposals.
"We've made a lot of progress at the negotiating table," Langen said.
Both negotiating teams have submitted dates to schedule another meeting this month.
IFO joins other unions in negotiating health insurance benefits.
State employee unions continue to bargain with the state for health insurance benefits, while some unions prepare for a possible strike.
The state did not set aside any additional money for pay and benefits for its 48,000 employees, including those that work at SCSU. Unions are pushing for the same benefits they received last biennium, but with the rising cost of healthcare that would add $138.3 million to the state's personal tab for 2004-05.
The state proposed a new annual deductible of $200-1,000 for families, higher drug co-pays of $17 instead of the current $12 and a higher out-of-pocket maximum for drugs of $2,000 for families, compared to the current $600 maximum. Non-drug annual out-of-pocket maximum would go up to $4,000 from $1,600.
The dental program would be preventative only - no fillings, crowns or orthodontics - with an annual $400 per person maximum for benefits.
State employees would pay a higher portion of their health insurance benefits without a pay raise.
"It basically boils down to a salary decrease," said Wil Harri, who represents IFO in the bargaining.
The unions bargain jointly with the Minnesota Department of Employee Relations. The largest unions, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) council six representing about 19,000 employees and Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE), representing about 10,000 employees, have the most influence.
Both AFSCME and MAPE members voted last week whether or not to accept the state's proposal. Votes are expected to be tallied by the end of the month. If members vote to reject the proposal the unions may strike.
But Employee Relations Commissioner Cal Ludeman said there's nothing more he can do.
"To pretend that there's millions of dollars hiding in state agencies or in the state budget available for one more go-around, no there's not," Ludeman told the Star Tribune last week. "We've stretched. I've done everything I can to put together this best offer. We mean it."
Ludeman added that if the state keeps the benefits at the same level it would be too expensive and several hundred employees would be laid off. So far, 940 state workers have already been laid off.
Former IFO president and SCSU economics professor Andrew Larkin argues that not maintaining health insurance for state employees will hurt the economy.
"By taking more out of healthcare we'll spend less, making other people get paid less and the state get less tax revenue," he said. "It will actually make the state economy worse."
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