CCU, County officials reach Tentative Agreement on Fringe Benefit Contract after months of contentious negotiations
December 11, 2013

The Coalition of County Unions -- CCU - leaders announced a Tentative Agreement on a new Fringe Benefit Contract with County management on December 10, 2013.  The new agreement arrives after months of stalled negotiations that followed the County's eleventh hour demand for changes to County Retiree Health benefits for future employees.

CCU leaders set the following major goals early in the fringe benefits negotiations process:  1) to protect the existing benefits package, 2) to protect employees from increases in out-of-pocket payments for medical premiums, and 3) to eliminate the current $112 million cap on County matching contributions to the Horizons program so that employees will receive their full 4% employer match for the entire plan year.  Under the new agreement, all of these goals were achieved!

Highlights of New Fringe Benefits Contract Agreement:
• TERM - 2 years (October 1, 2013 through September 30, 2015).

• CHOICES - The new agreement provides a 7.2% increase in the County's CHOICES contribution for 2014 and an additional 7.2% increase for 2015. Securing the increases in the CHOICES contribution means that most members will take home extra in their paychecks in 2014-2015.   Since County employees have already gone through the Open Enrollment process, this means that the your monthly allowance will increase and – for most plans – fully offset the increased cost of health insurance premiums.

• HORIZONS - Matching Fund Cap increased and then eliminated: The new agreement provides an additional $9 million annual increase to the cap on County matching contributions. The cap will increase from the current $112 million to $121 million for FY 2013-2014 and to $130 million for FY 2014-2015. This means that all participating employees should receive their full 4% match on their contributions for the entire year.  The major victory for our side is that the cap will be eliminated entirely effective July 1, 2015.

• $500 CASH BONUS - The new agreement includes a one-time $500 per employee contribution to CHOICES whereby all CHOICES participants will receive a $250 payment scheduled for January 2014 and again in July 2014.

As part of the new 2-year Fringe Benefits Contract agreement, all Coalition of County Unions established a separate agreement with LA County on Retiree Health Reform that changes the benchmark contribution for New Hires effective July 2014.

Retiree Health benefits for current employees will remain unchanged. Details of the new fringe contract agreement will be available to 1014 members in the following weeks as final language is drafted and confirmed by CCU and County officials.

While other agencies and Unions have been unable to sustain their current level of medical benefits and have seen draconian cuts to their plans, we have managed to bargain to a successful finish that maintains current levels of medical, dental and vision benefits, while dealing with funding issues only.  The math of the situation is one thing, and must be dealt with, but politics or use of bankruptcy and or courts to strip benefits from hard working employees and similar behaviors and actions will be a constant threat we will fight.  Unlike other Counties and Cities, we have a start to the solution for the funding liability issue and we have the tools in place to put tax free monies, earnings and distributions from employees and employer and we will have to continue to look for alternative ways to continue to help fund our defined benefit health care system we have come to treasure. 

Thank you for you continued support and we’ll keep you in the loop as we work on this project with the County and LACERA.

Fraternally,

Your 1014 Executive Board

Check iafflocal1014.org or local1014.org for details