MEA VOICE At Issue
We'll come back stronger than ever
Gladstone teacher Mike Lagina says
bargainers
will need to be ever-vigilant in their efforts to
negotiate quality health benefits in light of a new law that could impact school employees' insurance
School employees’ collective bargaining rights remain intact, despite new laws pushed through in the dark of night on Sept. 30 impacting school employee health insurance, the retirement system for new hires and the school calendar.
The laws were designed to give school districts more control and leverage over employees’ benefits.
Some have described the attacks on school employees as the worst since passage of Public Act 112 of 1994, which set penalties for strikes and prohibited some subjects from bargaining, including privatization of school support services.
Bargaining rights remain intact
This time around, however, school employees’ collective bargaining rights remain intact. MEA stands strong behind local efforts to negotiate fair and equitable contracts.
“We are going to survive this,” said an
assertive Iris K. Salters, president of the
MEA.
“We’re going to be better than we ever were.”
After languishing for months because of strong bipartisan opposition in both the House and Senate, bills negatively impacting school employees emerged as part of a late-night deal to fill a $1.8 billion state budget deficit. Though the new laws do not save the state any money, Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Democratic legislative leaders signed off on them in exchange for votes from a couple of Republican lawmakers to increase income taxes and to expand the sales tax to some services.
Within days, however, the revenues were threatened by an effort to repeal the expansion of the sales tax and recall some legislators who voted for the tax increases.
By late October, the Legislature reached final agreement on more than $430 million in savings and cuts to balance the 2007-08 budget.
K-12 public schools, community colleges and universities received average funding increases of 1 percent. The increase for K-12 schools will range from $48 to $96 per student, with poorer districts receiving more than wealthier districts.
In her original budget proposal last February, Granholm recommended across-the-board funding increases of 2.5 percent for education.
We must stay politically active
In early November, lawmakers continued
to fiddle with the budget, as
they considered legislation to repeal the
service tax—a key component in the
budget-balancing agreement reached
on Oct. 1. If that tax is repealed without
finding replacement revenue, MEA lobbyists
predict the state could soon face the
threat of another government shutdown,
a situation that could prove catastrophic
for education.
“This is a reminder that every educational decision is a political one,” Salters said. “It’s as important as ever for members to stay informed and to become politically active.”
The political tradeoff sacrificed school employees who have earned and paid for their benefits through years of collective bargaining in a climate of fear and intimidation at bargaining tables across Michigan.
“This is very serious,” says Gladstone teacher Mike Lagina. “But, we’ve gone through things that seemed insurmountable before.”
PA 106 serious threat
Public Act 106, formerly known as Senate Bill 418, is arguably the most serious threat to quality health insurance to come out of the recent budget deal.
The law:
• Requires insurers to provide medical claims data to employers with 100 or more employees in the same insurance plan. Smaller groups could request their data by joining together in a letter of intent to form a pool.
• Allows districts to create self-funded public employer pools, a potentially risky financial move. The newest pool in west Michigan, in existence for three years, is already a moneyloser. Districts are not required to join a pool. • Requires districts to get at least four competitive bids for health insurance every three years when renewing or continuing a health plan. The law does not require districts to accept any of the bids and you may collectively bargain what is included in a request for proposals sent to prospective bidders.
• The choice of carrier and health insurance coverage is still subject to collective bargaining, as always. There is no requirement that employees or the district accept the lowest bid. The eventual health plan chosen does not even have to be one of the four original bids.
Don’t bow to intimidation tactics
Public Act 106 doesn’t amend state bargaining law, but some school board members and administrators likely will cite the law to try to intimidate bargainers and employees into agreeing to unreasonable insurance changes. But there is nothing in Public Act 106 forcing local associations to accept changes that are not agreed to in bargaining.
MEA bargainers can expect to see more
low cost, low quality proposals at the
table. The pressure to change benefits will
only intensify, with school management
stepping up efforts to “buy off” employee
groups to get them to agree to insurance
changes. MESSA continues to be a target
because it is a union-affiliated plan chartered
by MEA, even though MESSA’s rate
increases have been far below the competition.
School employees with MESSA
have helped districts save almost $500
million in just the past three years.
Determining the exact meaning and application of the law likely will take years because the law is drafted poorly. Meanwhile, it is up to bargainers and local leaders to continue to insist that school boards bargain on a level playing field.
“When in doubt under this law, demand to bargain,” said Bob Thomas, an MEA bargaining consultant who works with local associations. “There are no prohibitions on bargaining in this law.”
MESSA considers options
At press time, MESSA leaders and staff were continuing to analyze the impact of the law on MESSA members and its business model, said Cynthia Irwin, executive director of MESSA. The law will make it harder for MESSA to continue to pool small groups of employees into large community pools to spread risk, she said. Irwin added that MESSA was consulting with expert actuaries, attorneys and underwriters as it worked to develop strategic options to respond to the law.
“We’re going to make decisions based on the same core values that we’ve always had,” Irwin said. “We’re going to continue to provide our members with high quality products that provide them with the peace of mind and security they want and deserve from their health plan.”