HARRISBURG – Gov. Rendell was joined by leaders from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Pennsylvania Social Services Union and United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 1776 today to announce a tentative four- year agreement with state employees. The agreement must now be ratified by members of each union.
Under the agreement, which will take effect July 1, 2007, employees will increase their contributions to their health care benefits but will experience no freeze in pay over the next four years. The wage package consists of a lump sum signing bonus of $1250 in the first year, followed by general pay increases of 3 percent, 3 percent, and 4 percent in second through fourth years of the agreements.
As in the last agreements covering 2003 through 2007, the new contracts share the responsibility for coping with relentless increases in employee health care costs. Under the agreements, employees must commit to triple their contribution from 1 percent of pay to 3 percent of pay over the course of this contract. State contributions will increase from $330 per member per pay in 2007 to $440 per member per pay in 2010. Savings of up to one half of active employees contribution will be available through continuation of the
“Get Healthy” program-an innovative approach to reducing health care costs that provides state employees and their families with financial incentives for maintaining and improving their health.
“This contract is an absolute win-win for employees and the state, considering the ever rising cost of health care nationwide,” said Rendell. “Once again we are asking state employees to recognize the challenge of keeping health care costs manageable, even as we recognize the sacrifices our employees made during tougher budget times.”
“Four years ago I told our employees and all Pennsylvania citizens that each of us needed to do our part to bring the state budget back into balance, and if we did, we would all benefit. That is exactly what has happened. This contract is in line with contracts being negotiated in other states, but here in Pennsylvania we are implementing innovative new approaches to reducing health care costs through our ‘Get Healthy’ program and that is enabling us to better preserve an excellent health benefit package for our workers and their families. This contract will give employees a continuing opportunity to save on health care costs while contributing to the bottom line-and also gives them a reasonable boost in pay, in line with the current pattern in other states.”
This contract also recognizes our need to manage rising costs for annuitant health care. Under this agreement, retirees will make the same percentage contribution to their health care costs as active employees – rising over the next four years from 1 percent of final pay to 3 percent. As with active employees, these contributions will enable us to maintain an extremely generous retiree health care program without bankrupting the Commonwealth.”
“I applaud all the parties who participated in these negotiations over the past four months for a successful resolution prior to the expiration of the current contract,” said Rendell. “Union leaders fought hard for their members, but always mindful that the state and its employees must work together to keep our health care benefit costs competitive.”