In these challenging times, it's imperative that the unions coordinated resources and efforts for the benefit of all the Coalition members.  MSEA is looking forward to providing valuable input as New Solutions for Michigan moves forward.     --Russ Waters, MSEA Secretary and Bargaining Committee Chair

COALITION PRESS RELEASE:
Today the Michigan Civil Service Commission approved all five agreements ratified recently by members of the labor organizations that comprise the Coalition of State Employee Unions.  Leaders of the five unions--UAW, SEIU 517M, Michigan Corrections Officers, Michigan State Employees Association, and AFSCME Council 25--were present at the meeting and welcomed the official conclusion to the collective bargaining process.

"The Coalition commends the Governor for recognizing that when labor and management collaborate, we can work together toward creating smarter, more efficient government that benefits the workers and provides better services for Michigan citizens," said International Union, UAW Vice President Cindy Estrada, who led the historic, first-time Coalition negotiations with the state.  "Michigan is leading the way in showing that labor-management relations can work."

The five collective bargaining agreements cover 35,000 state employees.  Non-economic terms of the contracts begin on January 1, 2012; economic terms of the contracts begin on October 1, 2012.

NEREs 3% Approved
Also on Wednesday morning, the CSC approved for Non Exclusively Represented Employees (NEREs) a 3% general base wage increase to take effect on Oct. 1, 2012, and a 2% lump sum payment.

NEREs also will be subject to the 80/20 health insurance plan, and move to paying 20% on PPO plans.  They will see a 10% increase on HMOs.  State Employer Jan Winters said that the NEREs haven't received many raises in recent years, even when union employees did.

"For the non-union portion of the state workforce, the raises in the last four years...have been 0, 1%, 0 and 0," said Winters.

Alan Quattrin, president of the Michigan Association of Governmental Employees (MAGE), said that the lack of wage increases may be dragging down the workforce.

"There currently exists a drastic morale problem throughout the ranks of your NEREs," he told the CSC.

He said a pay compression problem still existed, despite Wednesday's actions. 

"Although we are pleased that this administration has finally recognized this inequity by agreeing to give NEREs a larger raise, I would like to remind you that the only reasons the commission allowed this inequity to continue was because of the budget deficit.  Now we see today that the state is realizing a $1 billion surplus for Fiscal Year '11," said Quattrin.

However, as reported by MIRS on Wednesday, the $1 billion number isn't accurate.  According to new budget numbers, the surplus is likely to be just under $442 million.