“Real Solutions, Not Politics!”

Members Call on Governor to Focus on Genuine Healthcare Reforms

In the hours before contracts covering state and university workers expired July 1, members held actions across Oregon, calling on Governor John Kitzhaber and his negotiators to abandon their regressive contract proposals and focus instead on a formula for containing health care costs and promoting healthful behavior.

After tough negotiations for the past six months, we have prevailed on protecting PERS and scaled back many of the other cuts proposed by the State. But in bargaining June 27 and 28 it became clear that more talk at the table was not what the doctor ordered: more actions across the State were needed.

Members noted that the union’s two representatives to the State Public Employee Benefits Board have done just what the governor asked, collaborating on a proposal to redesign health care plans and institute a new Health Engagement Model to promote healthful behavior and decrease coverage for many procedures, setting the stage for a total of $142 million in cumulative savings in calendar years 2011-13.

Having met the request for plan reductions in cost, PEBB members delayed approval of these steps last week when the governor continued to insist that workers now also pick up 5% of premium costs in any new contract.

“Premium share is an old-school approach that, as the Governor has said, doesn’t work to bend the cost curve or provide high-value care,” SEIU 503 central bargaining co-chair Karen Miller said. “We believe in innovative solutions that hold insurers and health care providers accountable for delivering affordable, quality care.”

“We have accepted the Governor’s challenge to contain health care costs by committing to changes that save the state $142 million and promote further cost containment,” bargaining co-chair Dan Smith added. “This approach could be a model for employers across our state who are seeking to provide more affordable, quality care for their employees.  It would be a real shame for the State to jeopardize this new approach.”

Instead the state told the union that it would offer no new proposals prior to July 1 and reiterated plans to allow the contract to expire rather than extending terms while negotiations continue as it has routinely done in prior bargaining years— a presumed pressure tactic members of the SEIU 503 team predicted would have no impact on members determined to reach a fair settlement and hold the governor to his own words.

"We're not going to let it intimidate us," team member Rob Sisk said in a story in the Salem Statesman-Journal. "We are confident in the strength of our membership and we are confident in our ability to bargain."

When bargaining resumes July 11, teams from SEIU 503 and AFSCME will negotiate simultaneously at a single location as a further sign of the solidarity so evident in the sea of purple and green at the massive “Better Way” rally May 20 at the Capitol.