More than three months after the city agreed on a new labor contract with managerial staff, two final kinks have been ironed out involving health coverage for retired workers.
In July, aldermen voted to approve a new contract between the city and AFSCME Local 3144, which represents about 360 managers. The contract included pay increases and changes to health premiums.
But the city and the union didn’t agree on every detail. Two final disagreements were sent to arbitration, where a panel ruled for the city on one item and for the union on the other. The decision, which came down on Oct. 15, was submitted for approval last week to the Board of Aldermen. It will be assigned to a committee before a full vote by the board.
Floyd Dugas, attorney for the city, explained the two issues before the aldermen last week.
The first disagreement was whether retirees can keep their health plan when they retire, instead of choosing from one of the health plans active members have. Over the years, city managers have had a number of different health plans, some of which are now grandfathered in for small groups of employees, Dugas said. The city can have plans that are 25 years old that it still has to administer, he said.
The city prevailed on this disagreement. When they retire, people would have to choose from the plans that active members use.
The second disagreement dealt with retirees’ Medicare eligibility and the percentage of health care costs they would have to pay in retirement. Dugas said about 22 people in the union are not eligible for Medicare because at one point years ago, the city had opted out of Medicare and social security in favor of pension plans. When most union members retire, they’re eligible for Medicare, which takes care of the bulk of their health care costs. The city has a small supplemental plan workers pay a percentage of the cost of health insurance. The city wanted the percentage of costs paid by non-Medicare to “float” along with the percentage paid by those who are eligible. The union wanted the percentage to be frozen. The union prevailed.
Local 3144 President Cherlyn Poindexter released this statement about the decisions:
“The arbitration panel split the two retiree health care issues down the middle. This result is not uncommon in a majority of arbitration proceedings. Freezing the cost-share for Medicare-ineligible retirees is important. While the panel ruled for the city on the issue of freezing medical plans at the time of retirement, it’s important to recognize our union has made sure city workers retire with the dignity and security to which all Americans are entitled. The panel’s decision on the outstanding issues needs to be seen in the context of the overall contract settlement we reached earlier this year. Local 3144’s negotiating team did a great job protecting not only our hard-fought health care and retirement benefits, but the services we provide to city residents. That’s why our members approved the contract by a better than 2‑to‑1 margin.”
