Bargaining Update 9/04/22

Dear Union Siblings, 

We have a very serious update from the negotiating table. For the reasons set forth below, our team has asked the EMU-AAUP Executive Committee to hold a meeting to vote to authorize a strike.

For two days over the holiday weekend, we have been attending MERC mediation. No meaningful progress has been made. We have not received any new offer from Administration in five days. 

The Administration’s paltry offer remains the same it has always been—approximately 2% raises for the first three years, and a 2.5% raise for the last two years of a five-year contract. With inflation running over 9% per year, this offer is not enough. 

But that is not the whole story. As we have told you before, changes to the healthcare for our members are likely required by a law called Public Act 152, which limits the amount of health insurance public employers can provide. Unlike other groups on campus, the Administration’s latest offer utilizes Public Act 152 “hard caps”. Under this provision, employers may comply with the law by only paying a rate set each year by the State Treasurer—and no more. Any amount of healthcare costs incurred above the adjusted cap (on a plan-by-plan basis) must be born entirely by the employees in that particular plan, dollar for dollar. Over the life of the contract, this would mean thousands of additional dollars in premiums for those of you on the PPO and High Deductible Plan. Administration’s description of the proposal makes no mention of the potentially dire effects of this change on our members in subsequent years of the contract. 

Without a doubt, this proposal would eliminate the PPO as an option for our membership by the second year of the contract. While Administration has proposed an increase to base pay by $3,600 in year one, this amount will not even cover the increased premium for the first year, which they raise from $3,018 to $8,343. This difference of $5,325 for a family is over and above the additional out-of-pocket costs our members will pay due to the agreed-upon increased deductibles, co-pays, and coinsurance. Based on our analysis, these costs will average $982 per participant in the PPO and High Deductible plan. 

This offer is simply unacceptable.

When publicizing their proposals, the Administration has continually used the headline numbers of their compensation package without factoring in the increased healthcare costs that our members will pay. We are not fooled by this lie of omission, and neither should you. 

The Administration has also represented in numerous forums that their proposals to us are simply in line with healthcare plans and rates agreed to by other unions on campus. Quite simply, this claim is not true. No other employee group is on a hard cap model, including the police officers, police sergeants, and the clerical union, whose contract contains specified premium rates for the life of the contract. The latter Agreement was ratified by the Board of Regents meeting on August 24, 2022—less than two weeks ago.  These rates were also presented to us at the table on Aug. 11, 2022, and unquestionably comply with PA 152, based on a different “80/20” formula permitted by PA 152. Indeed, all other plans on campus comply with the Act using this formula.

On Saturday—after finally receiving crucial information from Administration—our team prepared and costed out a three-year proposal that would accept the University-wide premium rates in addition to the plan design changes (co-pays, deductibles, out-of-pocket maximums, etc.). Combined, these changes will cost our members $1.1 million in year one, $1.28 million in year two, and $1.53 million in year three. We therefore proposed a one-time addition to base pay of $3,200 to compensate for this drastic increase in healthcare costs—an amount calculated to simply keep our members whole during the difficult health care transition. We then proposed a 6.0% raise, which is a modest increase above the raise won by the Full-Time Lecturers in their recent wage reopener. Our proposal would not even return the faculty budget to 2021-2022 levels for the first two years of the contract.

Rather than accept our decision to adopt healthcare package in line with other University employees and negotiate a fair and equitable increase in compensation, the Administration’s negotiating team has refused to respond to our proposals, and instead signaled its intent to force the PA 152 hard caps on faculty—and faculty alone.

Given the unacceptable nature of their proposals and behavior at the table, we believe that we have no choice but to call for a work stoppage. We have given the Administration every opportunity to negotiate in good faith. We have agreed to work without a contract for the past four days while we continued to negotiate. Our team viewed this decision as the “last exit before the toll” in these negotiations, to provide time to allow the parties to work out an agreement in good faith. Administration has chosen not to take that exit. 

Our team can state with absolute certainty that we have done everything in our power to avert a strike. We have worked around the clock to try to reach an agreement. But it is simply impossible to come to an agreement with an Administration that refuses to negotiate in good faith with its Faculty.

Pursuant to our by-laws, we are thus calling for a vote to authorize a strike at a special membership meeting on Tuesday September 6th. At that meeting, we will vote whether to authorize an indefinite strike beginning the following day, Wednesday, September 7th. The time and Zoom link will be shared shortly.

We strongly recommend that each of you vote yes to authorize this work stoppage. Given the Administration’s tactics, we believe it is the only possible avenue for us to obtain the fair and equitable contract we all deserve.

It did not have to be this way.

In solidarity,

The EMU-AAUP Negotiating Team