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Governor, union ink pact to save $28.5M

E-mail|Link|Comments () December 18, 2009 06:59 PM

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick announced today that the state had reached an agreement with nearly 8,000 union workers on revised contracts that will save the state $28.5 million over the next three years.

Governor Deval Patrick

The agreement is one component of the governor's plan to offset additional mid-year budget cuts. He announced in October that an additional 1,000 state jobs would be eliminated unless labor unions agreed to rewrite their contracts and agree to $35 million in concessions.

Members of the Service Employees International Union Local 509 were the first to act, according to the Patrick administration, voting Thursday night for revisions that will save roughly $11 million this fiscal year.

"The workers of SEIU Local 509 understand that we are all in this together," Patrick said in a statement. "I thank them and their leadership for sharing responsibility for the solutions to get us through this unprecedented economic crisis."

The union agreed to take between one and three furlough days, depending on their salaries, and will put off a planned 1 percent wage increase until next year.

Patrick last month reached tentative agreements with Local 509 and three other state employee bargaining units -- SEIU Local 888, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, and the National Association of Government Employees -- but Local 509 is the first to ratify the agreement. The four unions represent 75 percent of unionized executive branch employees, and would bring the state close to its goal of achieving $35 million in concessions for this fiscal year.

There are six smaller state unions that have yet to come to terms.

If the other agreements are not ratified, the state would have to implement job cuts, Patrick administration officials say. The administration has developed plans for those cuts that would be implemented next month, depending on which union contracts are not ratified.

Because the new agreements impact the state budget, they still need to be approved by the Legislature.

Workers affected by the revised contracts are predominantly social workers at the Department of Children and Families and Department of Transitional Assistance, as well as employees of the Department of Mental Health, Department of Revenue, Department of Correction, Department of Public Health, and other agencies.

"Employees are giving something up but preserving jobs and programs that are otherwise under a lot of strain," Jay Gonzalez, secretary of administration and finance, said in an interview. "These are difficult times, but people throughout the state are facing similar situations in the private sector. The unions should be commended for stepping up and sharing in the sacrifice."