A&R met with the State on 3/15 for continued talks about our successor agreement. Although the State remains steadfast in its attempt to greatly reduce our benefits and rights, there has been a bit of softening and recognition as our attorney has been arduously explaining the history and folly of their positions. Generally, the State’s position on many subjects is to fall back onto the State Regulations, however, those regulations existed prior to our contract and the reason our contract has moved from the State Regulations is because issues came up that weren’t addressed by the Regs or that didn’t appropriately fit the situation faced by employees. As an example: the $10/day travel premium for A&R employees. A&R employees are often out of State for auditing purposes while most other union employees are out of State for conferences or forums. This will result in a difference in the comforts of daily living and the expenses that are incurred. Therefore, there is an additional premium for A&R employees that other unions do not get.
These are the type of discussions that have been occurring. The State’s high-priced attorney is beginning to understand the differences between the unions and how our contract evolved over time. Our contract is not designed for greed or excess, it evolved out of issues and resolutions of those issues. So our negotiating team is not ready to call an impasse on talks, it is slow, but moving forward. It is to our benefit to continue discussions. Clearly, the State Legislature does not want any contracts to show up while they are trying to solve the budget problems. Certainly, we cannot get a contract completed before the end of the Legislative session in May.
, this shouldn’t be a problem as the State is still trying to figure out how