Third in a series
Re “Analyzing a Relatively Winning Bargaining Agreement”
As president of the first city labor union to agree to shrinking rights that previously had been negotiated, Glenn Heald explained why it will be beneficial for some middle-aged city employees to leave by Dec. 31.
“It used to be that the city gave you 100 percent medical coverage,” said the leader of the Culver City Management Group.
“We agreed to step that down to 95 percent coverage on our last Memorandum of Understanding five years ago. Now we have agreed to what the city calls a ‘cafeteria plan.’ We don’t believe it is a true cafeteria plan because there are different levels of coverage, depending on whether you have dependents.
“If it were a true cafeteria plan by our reckoning, everybody would get the same dollar amount.
“For the sake of ease, we will call it a cafeteria plan. We have no agreed they will give you a set dollar amount, which is less than 100 percent coverage. Then you pick the levels of coverage you want, and you pay the extra.
“The biggest advantage to the city is, the increase on those amounts is capped at only 4 percent per year.
“And lately, we have been seeing double-digit increases in the annual premium for healthcare coverage.
“From now on, everything above 4 percent the employees will be picking up themselves. So the fat amount they give us is adjusted by no more than 4 percent a year.
“By contrast, right now the city is covering 95 percent of it every year, no matter how much it goes up.
“Those who retire on or before Dec. 31 will be able to retire under the current MOU, 95 percent of whatever the premiums are each year.”
Compared to the current contract, Mr. Heald noted that if premiums continue to rise at 10 percent a year, under the new 4 percent-6 percent deal, a decade from now workers will be paying 60 percent more than the present rate.
(To be continued)
