2013 Fringe Benefit Contract Negotiations Update:

Fringe Benefit Contract Talks Slowed by County -- September 2013

CAPE representatives at the Coalition of County Unions (CCU) remain hard at work in collective bargaining trying to secure a new fringe benefits contract for CAPE members.

The fringe benefits contract covers a wide variety of employee benefits including the County’s contribution to the Choices program to pay for medical benefit premiums, the County’s contribution to the Horizons deferred compensation program, retirement benefits, and much more.

County and CCU employee representatives have extended the fringe benefits contract for the last several years. Significant protections and benefit improvements, as well as a prior two year concession on the County’s match to our Horizon’s program, were part of each of those extensions. In the last round, CCU representatives representing the interests of County workers won an increase in the County’s payments towards medical benefits and secured restoration of the 4% Horizons matching contribution.

Efforts towards a new fringe benefits contract agreement have been ongoing since June. Citing escalating retiree healthcare costs as the hold up, progress has been slow this year as County officials have held-hostage the CCU’s fringe benefit contract proposals to try to extract changes to the retiree healthcare program.

CCU representatives outlined goals at the start of the negotiations that aim to protect CAPE members against out-ofpocket increases in their health care premiums, ensure that the County’s 4% matching contribution to the Horizons deferred compensation program would last the entire year, and even achieve a new County holiday.

CCU leaders are making every effort to secure a fringe benefits contract agreement soon enough to prevent the confusion that would result from an Open Enrollment period without the County’s contribution to health premiums decided. Unfortunately, the County’s tactics may not make that possible.

We will continue to keep CAPE members informed of the fringe benefits contract status as the negotiations progress.