AME Happenings
<< Back to Headline News
Negotiations Team Update
5/10/2010
- Cheryl A. Felice, President
On Monday, May 10, 2010, the AME Negotiations Team met with the Suffolk County Office of Labor Relations for their third formal negotiations session. AME, after presenting their initial Contract proposals on April 19th, started the task of presenting their demands in detail and will continue this process on the next session scheduled for June 7th.
All day Work Session- May 6, 2010
The Negotiations Team met for an all day workshop on Thursday May 6, 2010, to review the negotiations proposals prior to the Negotiations Session scheduled for the following May 10th. President Felice welcomed everyone. She explained that she had spent the prior week at Albany, lobbying for AME on behalf of the members at the John J. Foley Skilled Nursing Facility; and then traveled south to Washington, D.C. and attended the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Legislative Conference on the newly legislated Health Care Reform and its fiscal impacts upon our economy and health and welfare plans. She had just returned the night before this meeting. Some of the important issues gained from the conference:
WASHINGTON, D.C. LEGISLATIVE UPDATE ON THE IMPACT OF THE ECONOMIC CRISIS:
AME members are very fortunate that the provisions of our expired contract (CBA) are protected under the Taylor Laws Triborough Doctrine and the NYS Taylor Law itself. President Felice listed the benefits that our members continue to earn, despite an expired contract, such as:
o Step Increases
o Longevity Pay and Increases
o Tool and Uniform Allowances
o Vacation and Sick Accruals
She distributed copies of this mornings front page of Newsday: NYS Governor Paterson is threatening to mandate unpaid furloughs against his own state workforce at the rate of a 20% wage loss until a budget is passed.
Regarding our NYS pension and our benefit fund: We must be cognizant that benefit funds of unions, both private and public sector, rely on investments and are impacted by the economy.
Good news: There is a light at the end of the tunnel;
Bad news: It is a very long tunnel!
Across the nation, personal income has not increased; in fact, it has decreased in the private sector.
But house values went up, and so did foreclosure rates.
The problem was that house values shot up too high too quickly; people borrowed against the increased value in their homes; values decreased; people owed more in mortgages than their homes were worth.
The recession of 2008 actually righted the values of homes by decreasing inflated values.
The problems in the state and counties are that governmental infrastructure is being neglected; roads and bridges are in disrepair. When they are finally repaired, those repairs will be more costly because government ignored too long and waited too long to repair. Government needs to regularly maintain their governmental infrastructure.
Bottom line: HAVE PATIENCE! Things are getting better
just takes time.
NATIONAL FIGURES TO CONSIDER:
8.5 million jobs were lost in 2009;
Construction jobs were key;
Bankruptcy and foreclosures were at the highest percentage since World War II;
2010 1 million more jobs per year, with a growing population;
By 2030 there will be 60 million more people in the United States;
2012-2014 expects to move upward toward recovery.
It will take until 2014 to reach the level we were at in 2002! (Recession impact)
The real recovery equals having more jobs, which would equal more spending into the economy.
ALL OF THE ABOVE FACE US AS WE BEGIN NEGOTIATIONS.
Review All Proposals and Fiscal Impact Study
The team of negotiations experts Tom Ryan, Esq., Ed Boughal, and Robert Borzfield, went over the estimated fiscal impact of all SCAME proposals. They pointed out several areas that need further research.
General Fund Tax level is currently $4.9 million;
Comes into question: the countys ability to pay: is a separate issue. Taxes have not exceeded constitutional tax limit.
Average household pays about $100 annually (SCPD is different section and higher amount.)
A 10% increase would be only $10 per year for the average homeowner but even a 10% increase would only bring in only $10 million annually.
The same analysis was done on county proposals.
Retirement and Social Security costs were analyzed as well.
President Felice and Tom Ryan went over the entire list of AME proposals, with all of the changes as recommended by the negotiations team. President Felice was very pleased at the level of comprehensive coverage made by the team and looks forward to spirited negotiations.