Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s alleged solution to the impasse with employee unions who want a the promised return of a 5% group healthcare contribution they’ve been giving since 2009 is to only give it back if he can whack their salaries — which is what the county obviously wanted in the first place.
He calls that a compromise. I call it unfair labor practices. Folks on the other side of the negotiating table have more colorful terms.
“Absurd.”
“Bullshit.”
“Illegal.”
That last one piqued my interest. Because over and over again, union leaders told Ladra that it would be illegal for the mayor to propose anything, for the commission to consider anything other than the 5% concession they began giving in 2009 to help out in hard times. The one that was supposed to expire Jan. 1, according to their contract. The one that the mayor broke the county’s promise on.
The only thing that can be presented, they said, is the 5% — whether to keep or eliminate it.
Yet, at today’s impasse hearing, commissioners could hear about a 3.5% salary cut that would allow the county to give back the 5% to the 11 county unions at impasse. The mayor wants to talk about another option he has created — one-time bonuses for the lowest paid workers to offset the money grab. But, wait. If it’s needed for the health care, why can you do these things? Because it’s not needed for the healthcare. This 5% is a sham that was perpetrated on the employees to shore up the operating budget.
And maybe the 3.5% pay cut is where the county wanted to go in the first place.
Miami-Dade Human Resources Director Arleen Cuellar practically said so when she told a Miami Herald reporter last week that this was never about healthcare.
“This gets us away from the ‘smoke-and-mirrors’ of this insurance contribution, and it goes back to the original intent,” she said. “It was supposed to be a salary reduction.”
But there is still smoke and there are still mirrors today. Because this was supposed to be a salary reduction. Disguised as a health care contribution.
Commissioners will hear about these proposals at today’s hearing, and they will hear from most if not every single union that it is illegal. Because they cannot discuss anything except what is on the table — the 5%. They also say it’s preposterous. It is not what they were promised in 2009 when they were coerced into giving 5% to a group healthcare to cover “skyrocketing premiums” that were unfunded.
But now they are funded. Terry Murphy, who does government affairs work for several unions, showed Ladra documents that indicate the county has at least $81 million in reserves to pay healthcare claims, that’s $20 million more than the 60 day emergency supply they said they would feel comfortable with.
So where’s the emergency?
And our commissioners feel the employees’ pain. Most of them, anyway. They already voted once to have the county restore the 5%. The mayor vetoed that decision and then that veto was upheld. But it could have easily gone the other way. And if this impasse hearing falls apart, the mayor may be facing an adverse decision yet again.
In fact, it is the only thing to do. In light of millions spent on incentive programs for Fortune 500 travel giants, studies for this and that, trips to Europe and D.C. with the Miami Dolphins and even costumes for high school mascots, the commission can’t just turn it’s head on the 25,000 or so employees that are what make this county work.
They should do the right thing and give the employees — the ones they bury in well-wishing holiday emails that seem insincere — back the money they have been basically stealing from them for five years.
Carlos Gimenez 5% ‘compromise’ still breaks promise added by Ladra on
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