Wednesday, June 06, 2018

UUP FIRST NYS GOVERNMENT UNION TO GET PAID FAMILY LEAVE; DE BLASIO ESTIMATES PAID FAMILY LEAVE WILL COST NYC $1 BILLION

Chaz reported earlier on United University Professions (SUNY professors) being the first public sector union in New York State to get paid family leave in contract negotiations. The Chief Leader has an extensive article on the agreement reached in late May. It is a six year contract with 2% annual raises.

New progressive friend of working man and woman Governor Andrew Cuomo was involved in this deal. 2% a year is no great monetary settlement but an extensive paid family leave benefit is significant.

From the Chief Leader article:
UUP members will receive 10 weeks of paid leave at 55-percent of their average weekly salary when the plan's next increase takes place in 2019. The benefit will increase to 67 percent of an employee’s average weekly salary for 12 weeks by 2021.

The cost to members for this benefit according to Fred Kowal, the UUP President, quoted in the Chief Leader:
The union, whose membership is 53 percent female, did not have to make any concessions to obtain the benefit, according to Mr. Kowal. He praised Mr. Cuomo for the state’s willingness to work with the union on the issue.
‘A Firm Commitment
“The Governor had made a firm commitment that he wanted this for municipal employees,” he said.
What about the ramifications for NYC municipal employees?

This is what the Chief Leader said:

The state (private sector) plan is fully funded through payroll deductions equal to .126 percent of employees’ weekly wage. The maximum annual contribution for this year is capped at $85.56.
Though no city employees have benefitted from the state plan yet, the de Blasio administration granted 20,000 city managers, who do not have collective bargaining rights, six weeks of family leave at full pay. The benefit was paid for by managers giving up a planned 0.47-percent raise. Employees with at least 15 years’ service also gave up two annual vacation days.
City Plan More Costly
The city’s budget would not be directly affected if unions representing city employees adopted the state’s plan, while a citywide expansion of the plan offered to managers would cost taxpayers an estimated $1 billion, a spokeswoman for the de Blasio administration noted.
The state has not made any estimates regarding how many public employees it expects to use the benefit.
Paid family leave will more than likely be in the city fairly soon after the precedent was set by a state union.


18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bottom line is that that people who dont want it or need will still be paying for it in some way.

Anonymous said...

I have made a well thought out choice to never have kids. I am 45 and know this for sure. "Paid" maternity leave is a scam. Somebody will pay for it. It will either be the taxpayers of NYC or the teachers of NYC. The reality of "paid" maternity leave is that it really is not a fair system to those who are never going to have kids. Why should others front the bill for a choice that some people make in regard to getting pregnant? Nobody forces anybody to have a baby. It is a choice and as such a big choice that should not be made unless you can afford to do it. And please do not tell me why others should pay for my healthcare as a municipal employee. Healthcare insurance is needed to keep the workforce of NYG running on a day to day basis. Everybody gets sick from time to time and as such, health insurance is needed. If we get "paid" maternity leave and there are givebacks of any kind, there will be a massive rift between those teachers who want to have kids, and the ones who do not want to have kids or who are planning on not having any more kids. The only fair way to have a ""paid" maternity leave is to have all those teachers who are planning on having kids to sign up for a pool and have small withdraws pulled from their paychecks only. My says this won't happen and "paid" leave is going to happen with givebacks for all of us and it is going to be a huge shit show. Mark my words on this.

Anonymous said...

well if they just called it family leave and let you use it to have a baby or take care of a sick spouse or parent or child as well i don't see who could be against it, but if it's just maternity we are going to have a problem.

Anonymous said...

I don't support this at all. teachers have 3 months off. 10 sick days a year.
Make a plan. Work it out.

I support fighting for 5 more sick days per year so all members can benefit.
Or
This should be offered as an opt in for a cost that is taken out per pay period.
Paid maternity leave = absolutely not.
paid family leave = maybe, because this will gain more support and benefit more a larger percentage of union.

James Eterno said...

Paid family leave is not the same as paid maternity leave. You could use it to care for an infant, an older child or a sick parent or spouse as 6:59 says. All could potentially use it at some point. That is why the city does not know how to estimate the cost and they have put it at a whopping $1 billion. Needless to say, I think that estimate is way too high.

Anonymous said...

2% is not a raise, it is a COLA

Anonymous said...

2% is almost guaranteed to be more than what we will actually get, especially after they punish us for some type of maternity leave. The UFT has talked about it so much, it will be in the next deal, and victory will be claimed. 3 years, 1 percent per...

James Eterno said...

From the US BLS, inflation rate for the past year:


Consumer prices up 2.5 percent over year ended April 2018

2% will not even keep up with inflation. With all the money being added to the economy with tax cuts when it is humming, that inflation figure may soon rise in the very near future..

Anonymous said...

@7:41, I read Arthur’s notes from the Executive Board meeting - the city isn’t adding 5 days to our sick days, it’s adding 5 work days.

Anonymous said...

It's correct that 2% wont even keep up with inflation. There's just one thing DiBLAHsio is counting on, and that is NYC's "Brightest" don't understand math.

Anonymous said...

And what was inflation when we got 10% over 7 years. And with retro eroding over 11 years?

Anonymous said...

I think most of us would sign up for 2% per year going forward, which is sad...

Anonymous said...

WHERE IS THIS INFO ON THE CITY ADDING 5 WORKDAYS? That seems like a change to our contract and as such would we not have to vote on that via ratification?

Anonymous said...

I would think we would, but we have the dynamic UFT representing us and master negotiator Mulgrew probably agreed when first asked.

Anonymous said...

Got it. 5 days for 8.25 in the TDA restored.

Anonymous said...

Don’t hold your breath.

Anonymous said...

We gave away 8.25% down to 7% for two days and you are proposing to get it back for five? Maybe you should have a spot on the negotiating team. You are Unity material for sure.

Anonymous said...

thats done...i want to improve the future.