Bargaining Update

August 26, 2004

Talks between the governor’s Labor Relations Office and the unions representing state employees are moving ahead to economic issues.

“This is crunch time,” says chief negotiator Eva Santos. “We have covered a lot of ground and reached tentative agreements on some major issues. But the next few weeks are critical.”

Santos emphasizes, “We must be finished with economic issues in early September in order to leave enough time for contracts to be ratified and to be submitted to to OFM the governor’s office by our October 1 deadline.”

Negotiations on the amount the state will pay on behalf of each employee for their health benefits also are progressing and are scheduled to conclude in September.

The fiscal terms of all the contracts are due to the Office of Financial Management by October 1, 2004. Contracts will go into effect July 2005.