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© 2021 The Somerville Times. All rights reserved.
By Somerville Labor Coalition
(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)
The City of Somerville joined the Group Insurance Commission (GIC), the Commonwealth’s health plan for public employees, in 2011. At the time, several press reports suggested that Somerville’s unions overwhelmingly agreed.
These stories implied that city officials engaged in give-and-take negotiations, rather than forcing employees into the GIC under new, more restrictive, and less democratic conditions.
While this makes for a feel-good story, it is inaccurate. The Massachusetts Legislature and Somerville officials paid lip service to the spirit of collective bargaining. But behind the scenes, they ruthlessly manipulated the rules to strip unions of their collective bargaining rights.
Setting the Stage
Mayor Curtatone began with scare tactics, preying upon retirees and increasing the proportion of healthcare premiums that they pay to 25 percent.
Then, city officials doubled their projection of the rate that health insurance costs would grow, to 18 percent. In 2010, the City adopted Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 32B, Section 19 of Massachusetts General Laws, forcing all Somerville unions and retirees to bargain for healthcare insurance collectively.
A City law requires that labor negotiating bodies designate a union leader to represent them, and Massachusetts Retirees Association also appoints a delegate for each union. So Somerville’s dozen municipal unions formed a Public Employee Committee (PEC), with representation proportionate to each union’s membership.
Legislative Changes
In the summer of 2011, new legislation eased the way for municipalities to join the Group Insurance Commission. It allowed them to join without collective bargaining if they could prove that they were under significant budget strain.
That August, Governor Patrick amended the regulations to allow cities to enter the GIC with only a simple majority vote from union representatives, rather than the 70 percent weighted vote previously required. This ended up usurping the power of the city’s diverse unions.
Pick Your Poison
Somerville unions knew that we would probably be forced into the GIC. But we wanted to negotiate the best deal we could get to protect our members and retirees. Under Massachusetts G. L. Ch. 32B, Section 23, the unions’ premium percentages would remain the same, each union would retain the right to bargain for health care contracts, and the City would be required to return 25 percent of the savings resulting from GIC membership (projected at $2.3 million) to its unions and retirees.
But if the unions entered the GIC under Section 19, the Public Employee Committee would negotiate premium increases. And a simple majority vote of that committee would force those changes on all city unions and retirees.
Divide and Conquer
Although the Board of Aldermen voted to adopt the GIC under Section 23, the Mayor was never going to let this happen, because it would preserve each union’s right to bargain for healthcare separately. And it would require the $2.3 million rebate.
He knew that if he persuaded the teachers unions, the city’s most populous, then their vote alone would represent the simple majority of the Public Employee Committee needed to enter the GIC under Section 19. All he had to do was manipulate the thirty-day window within which a decision had to be made, and then let the PEC’s union representatives fight it out.
Sure enough, the Somerville Teachers Union led the negotiations. Despite opposition from multiple unions, they negotiated and ratified a deal with the city.
Some unions lost access to healthcare plans in which they had specific contractual rights, such as health insurance carriers, plan options, and contribution percentages. Hard earned indemnity and premium splits were collateral damage. And when it would come time to renegotiate, the Mayor could control the PEC, since he controls staffing levels. The game was rigged.
The Bottom Line – More Than You Bargained For
The amendments to MGL Section 19B that changed a 70 percent vote requirement to a simple majority are a one-two punch to collective bargaining and union solidarity. The switch to the GIC saved millions for the city and employees in annual premiums, but visits to the doctor became much costlier.
Under Section 19B, unions whose members face the greatest potential health problems—firefighters, police, and DPW workers—have no control over their healthcare decisions. The hard-earned percentage limits on what they contributed to their healthcare costs were bargained away by 51 percent of the Public Employee Committee.
The Legislature’s collective-bargaining healthcare laws allowed Somerville’s administration to change the rules in the middle of the game, preventing municipal unions from having their voice heard and their vote counted. It’s not fair in sports and it’s not fair in the workplace.
Sincerely,
Co-Chair Ed Halloran
Co-Chair Thomas Ross Somerville Firefighters
Secretary Steven Ross
SLC Co-Founding Member Jim Roderick, SMEA
Treasurer Peter Blaikie, NCFO Local 3 School Custodians
SLC Co-founding Member Mike McGrath Police Patrolmen
SLC Co-Founding Member Terri Mederios 911 Operators of SEIU Local 888
SLC Member Michael Cabral, Police Superior Officers
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Wow is that tone deaf. First, off, this happened six years ago? I can guarantee you we’re not going back.
As someone who gets insurance through my private sector employer I would kill to be in the GIC. It would be great if the entire state could be in the GIC. It’s the best, most affordable insurance package in Massachusetts.
So I’m paying for your gold standard insurance and you’re whining about it? I’ve met plenty of city employees over the past two decades and they’re generally fine people. So I urge the rank and file to tell their union leaders to shut their mouths over this type of nonsense because this reads like a letter from an ungrateful, spoiled bunch of brats.
Villenous, it’s very easy to talk when it’s not you dealing with the issue. It’s only affordable if you aren’t on a fixed income. Yes, it’s cheaper under the GIC, but when you are only given about $1100/month for a pension after deductions and you aren’t eligible for Medicare, any amount you pay is too high.
Insurance rates are going up, no matter where you are getting yours from. Deductibles are getting crazy, too, going up about double in the past 3 years, and now there’s a new one added for pharmacy, too. Being in the GIC makes it cheaper, I’m sure, but no matter what you wind up paying, it’s still too much to afford.
My late father worked for the City, and his retirement check was always able to go only so far. He wasn’t eligible for Medicare and so always had to buy private insurance, which is still what my mother has to get, and only on a pension that’s now about a third less than what she had when my father was alive.
Her deductible the first 2 years under the GIC was about $250/year, which then went up the next year to $300, and now jumped to $500. Her monthly medical supplies were mostly free each year, and now she has to pay for at least several months before she meets her deductible for the year. This all on a montly check that has only had a COLA increase of maybe $20 or so every couple of years, while insurance rates jump well over that.
For anyone who has a good-paying job and can get their insurance subsidized, or has supplemented insurance, then the GIC could certainly be a good thing. But unless you are barely living check-to-check, you can’t really understand how even being in the GIC doesn’t feel like it’s that much better in the end when rates continue to go up every year.
Unions should be able to negotiate for what they feel is fair to their members. That’s what they are for. When I had a job, I was lucky I could afford the subsidized insurance I was paying for. I only wish we could have had a union to protect our interests.
Don’t knock people and say they’re “whining” because they aren’t happy with what they’re being given. Everything is relative.
Let me try to understand this. The CEO of our city who looks out for our taxpayers, in the years when we were having financial trouble as a city, used every legal tactic available to him to reduce the city obligation for health insurance costs to balance the budget without needing to raise more taxes or cut more services. And he did so by forcing the unions to take one of the best health care programs in the state. I don’t see any problem here. It seems that the Mayor was looking out for all of the taxpayers.
I’m on the GIC through the state and find that its the best health plan I’ve ever been on. Overall costs are cheap as long as you budget for that annual deductible. My previous plan cost more in premiums than the deductible plus the premiums for the GIS so I’m still coming out ahead.
Linda, it’s the best, most affordable insurance package in the state. I know a number of people on it and they appreciate just how good they’ve got it. I’m glad municipal employees have it. If local union leaders want to whine about it, then they deserved to be called out on the selfish, entitled, primadonna stance they’re taking.
What you’re talking about is why we ought to have single payer. I agree we should, but that’s not what this is about. I have what passes for good insurance. I’d trade it in a heartbeat to get on the GIC.
I also don’t see Somerville retirees listed or mentioned in this letter. I’m guessing they voted for the shift to the GIC (probably because it was a better deal for them than what they had).
I have been sniffing around. This is the same group of union officials that endorsed the proven racist and sexist Peyton Corbett. So, we are to trust their word on the GIC history? The above posts are correct GIC is a very cost effective insurance that many (including me) wish they had. And btw at least six of these outstanding Union officials (ugh) don’t even live in Somerville! So their endorsement is very self-serving. You should all be ashamed of yourselves!
That guy Thomas Ross from the firefighters union worked to get Curtatone elected some years ago. HIs sister and brother got jobs with the city, and another brother has contracts with the city for street sweeping. But Ross now whines. And his union endorsed Deval Patrick twice, but now he whines.
Ross’s nickname on the fire department is “Weeping Tommy Ross.” Poor baby!