A&R has another impact bargaining agreement coming before the legislature on May 17. We have 9 titles which cover 58 employees that have unionized and been accepted by the State Labor Board to join A&R. The agreement will be brought to the Appropriations Committee on May 17th as House Resolution 32 (HR32) and Senate Resolution 33 (SR33). If both of these agreements pass the Appropriations Committee, they will be put to the floor of the full House and the full Senate. Our last agreement covered only 6 Tax Attorneys and passed by a 19-17 vote in the Senate, this agreement will cover 58 people and will have a much tougher fight on the floor of the Senate. We need to do better than a 19-17 vote and we certainly can't lose this fight. When these agreements come to the full floor vote, we will need to have A&R members call their House Rep/Senator and let them know that we expect them to vote in favor of these agreements. We will follow-up when this gets closer to the full floor votes. But please feel free to start those conversations with your State reps if you see them around town. The messaging is simple: "We want our legislators to support the labor agreements in HR 32 & SR 33".
The following titles are included in HR32 & SR33:
Airport Operations Manager
Fiscal Administrative Manager 1
Fiscal Administrative Manager 2
Healthcare Advocate Program Manager
DMV Hub Branch Manager
Military Administrative & Program Manager
Transportation Bridge Safety Principal Engineer
Transportation Assistant District Engineer
Transportation Principal Property Agent
The negotiated agreement calls for:
- Maintaining current wage ranges (e.g.- the current MP-66 becomes AR-66)
- GWIs of 3.5% for 2019 and 2020
- Steps of 2% for those who qualify
- 2.5% TSP for 2018, 2019, and 2020 for those who qualify
- Longevity at line AR32 for those at AR-67 or higher and line 30 for those at AR-66 or lower for those who qualify
- One furlough day during FY20 if they did not take it in FY18.
- $1000/$2000 payment that they were denied in 2018.
- Anyone over 560hrs of vacation accumulation may maintains their current vacation bank with that amount becoming their personal maximum . All others will default to the A&R maximum of 560hrs.
Employees in several other job titles currently classified as managerial have also petitioned the state labor board to unionize and seek representation by A&R at the bargaining table. These include approximately 25 employees at the Department of Transportation and 12 employees at the Department of Labor. On May 8th, in an election conducted by the state labor board, employees at DOT across six job titles unanimously voted in favor of joining A&R. Further proceedings at the state labor board will be necessary for these groups to succeed in their quest to unionize, and A&R is assisting them. Our goal is to have these employees recognized by the labor board as eligible for collective bargaining, followed by negotiations for a future tentative agreement with OLR, and ultimately bringing the result of those negotiations before the legislature at the next legislative session. Employees in the following titles are at various stages in their attempts to unionize and join A&R.
Department of Labor Unit Manager
Transportation Assistant Planning Director
Transportation District Maintenance Manager
Transportation Director of Concessions Operations and Revenue
Transportation Equipment Repair Manager
Transportation Maintenance Maintenance Manager
Transportation Purchasing and Stores Assistant Director
Transportation Transit Manager