April 2010
KidsCare Saved!
They waited until the last day of the legislative session yesterday, but they finally did it ... Arizona lawmakers approved a measure Thursday to restore $400 million in funding for KidsCare and AHCCCS eligibility for low-income Arizonans.
This is a huge step in the right direction for Arizona, and a victory for our members who serve the program. They know better than anyone that slashing services to the most vulnerable children in Arizona is not a good long-term cost-saving plan.
The motivating factor in the legislature's decision appears to be the enactment of health care reform in March. That law required states to maintain health care services as is or face the loss of billions in federal subsidies. In Arizona's case, cutting KidsCare and trimming AHCCCS funding would have resulted in a loss of $7.8 billion in federal money.
Gilbert Employees-Maintaining Great Services Through Shared Sacrifice
Why SEIU Arizona is Against the New Immigration Law
SB 1070 puts public service jobs at risk.
"Overburdened police departments, swamped justice systems, an unfunded re-deployment of resources at the expense of the residents of cities and counties who will continue to pay for services that fewer public service employees struggle to deliver ... These are reasons enough for SEIU Arizona to be against SB 1070 ..."
Worried About the Cost of your Health Insurance?
Even though Chandler employees run one of the leanest, most efficient cities in the Valley, city management has proposed a plan to dramatically raise employee health insurance premiums.
Your SEIU bargaining team is circulating an Open Letter to Mark Pentz, urging him to keep benefits affordable for the men and women who make Chandler a successful city.
You can sign the Open Letter online here. You can also download the Open Letter and ask your co-workers to sign it. Call Faith Risolo at (480) 414-6283 to arrange to have it picked up.
And check back here soon to see how the benefit changes would affect the dollars your family spends on health insurance.
The Union Difference in Health Insurance Costs
On Tuesday, April 20, the Pima Board of Supervisors voted to:
>> approve our health care agreement, negotiated during Meet & Confer;
>> order Chuck Huckelberry to include the Meet & Confer team in budget discussions beginning in November 2010, not later in the spring as has been the custom.
These decisions are a result of the power exercised by the members of the SEIU Pima County Chapter, the elected Meet & Confer team, and more than 500 County employees who signed the Open Letter to Chuck Huckelberry on the cost of health insurance.
The agreement represents savings of thousands of dollars for County employees and their families in these difficult economic times.
To see the dollar amounts for your family, take a look at the worksheet we've prepared. And if you have not yet become a union member, now is the time. Health insurance costs, job security, and compensation are issues that will be on the table again this fall. Be part of the power!
Pima Members Take Health Costs Issue to Board
SEIU members took our battle for a fair resolution to proposed health care cost increases to the Board of Supervisors April 13.
A delegation of SEIU Pima Chapter members presented hundreds of signatures on an open letter to Chuck Huckelberry that calls for a shared sacrifice in taking on the burden of dramatic increases negotiated by the County with United Healthcare Group.
We also offered our proposal to manage rising health care costs to the members of the Board. We asked that the Board take no action on proposed health care cost increases until our ideas have been reviewed, and repeated our position that Meet & Confer is the proper place to handle the issue.
While we have had success in our efforts to hold down increases in employee premium costs (the County's share of the cost has increased from a $1.2 million contribution to a $2.7 million), we believe more can be done.
Members of our delegation posed a number of questions about the steep increase in the County's costs for employee health insurance coverage:
County rates have been going up every year - 14% last year, 16% this year. How much will we have to pay next year? How can we pay increases without some kind of a wage increase to give us a fighting chance to keep up?
What exactly is the County getting for its $40 million contract with United HealthCare, the nation's largest health insurer? Why are we paying $4.4 million in administrative fees?
After all, total enrollment in County health plans is down. Enrollment is down in the HMO plan, the County's most-expensive offering. And the County is proposing the elimination of the retiree health care benefit. So why are rates continuing to soar for active employees?
The delegation called for the County to focus on keeping premiums down and sharing some of the costs that employees were initially expected to shoulder alone. It also said that Meet & Confer should be the place for reviewing the issue so that employees can better understand the details and thus be able to offer ideas for mutually acceptable solutions.
As a result, the Board directed County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry to ensure the SEIU Pima Chapter Meet & Confer Team and the County management team meet to arrive at a common set of financial figures so that a fair resolution of the issue can be reached. The Board will take up the issue again next Tuesday, April 20.
Until then, sign the Open Letter to Chuck Huckelberry ... it's the best way to let him know how we feel about this important benefit.
Top Photo: Pima County employee signatures on the Open Letter to County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry.
Bottom Photo: Pima County Transportation employees Annie Medina and Martin Montano were part of the SEIU delegation at the Board meeting.
How Will Health Reform Help Arizona?
Even as the Republican leadership of the State legislature finds new ways to reduce state revenue through more tax cuts for businesses (Read more about House Bill 2250), further imperiling the future of KidsCare and AHCCCS coverage for low-income Arizonans, we really will see improvements in our health care system.
The National Health Reform bills signed into law last month call for immediate changes in some areas, longer-term changes in others and, for those who are hapy with their health care coverage, no changes at all.
The goal of this landmark health care reform package is to make health care more accessible and less expensive while eliminating many of the unfair and discriminatory policies practiced by the health insurance industry.
Here's how National Health Care reform will help Arizonans ...
Housing Assistance Available
Do you know a family struggling to get by?
SEIU Arizona is partnering with Labor's Community Service Agency to give our members a "first-look" opportunity at available housing offered in Maricopa County by LCSA's Transitional Housing Program.
Eligible families must include parents with children under age 18. Families must be facing eviction, foreclosure or be homeless, be employed (or motivated to find a job), be free of alcohol and drug abuse and be earning less than 50% of the median income in their area.
This is not emergency housing and the process can take several weeks.
Further details and a downloadable Application Form are available through LCSA. For additional information, visit the LCSA website or call them at 602 263-5741.
Pima Employees Fight Unfair Health Cost Increase
The SEIU Pima Chapter Bargaining Team is fighting County management proposals to shift the vast bulk of additional health care costs onto County employees.
Our Bargaining Team is making some progress, but without the strong support of ALL Pima County employees, a positive outcome of this struggle is far from certain.
Join your co-workers at one of these important meetings to learn more about the health care cost increases and what you can do to help ensure the burden of these higher costs are fairly and equitably shared by employees and management alike.
Thursday, April 8
Herbert K. Abrams Building: 11 am
Ina Road: 10:45 am
Santa Cruz Park: Noon
Richardson Park: 3:30 pm
Friday, April 9
Ina Road: 10:45 am
Chandler Workers Win Streets Competitions
A number of SEIU members who work for the City of Chandler's Streets Division were honored in March after they placed first in competitive events sponsored by the Maintenance Superintendents Association.
The best backhoe operator in Chandler? SEIU member Tim Wakefield. Tim also took second place in the motor grader event.
Robert Hoffman came first in the competition for best loader. He was also part of the champion cracker sealer team that included members George Bernal, Marcos Restrepo and David Valenzuela.
Jacob Granillo and Jose Matus were on the first-place concrete crew and Jose was also part of the winning asphalt crew. Daniel Lermas came in third in the master equipment operator category.
The MSA is comprised of mid-management municipal, county, state and special district employees who are responsible for and dedicated to the cost effective maintenance of the public infrastructure.
Congratulations, guys ...
Top photo: MSA representative congratulates 
Tim Wakefield.
Middle photo: MSA representative congratulates Robert Hoffman.
Bottom photo: Jacob Granillo and Jose Matus with crew chief James Kessler.
Tempe Employees Fight for Jobs and Services
As the City of Tempe contemplates the possibility of laying off city employees for the first time ever, SEIU Tempe Chapter members met at Priest Yard early on the morning of April 1 to sign up for the Layoff Prevention Action Plan.
We have been working with management since the onset of the budget crises that are affecting all levels of government. And we're ready once again to encourage the city to adopt alternatives to layoffs and furloughs.
But time is short to protect our jobs and services! City of Tempe employees can stand up for their jobs starting right here: Download the "Tempe Works Because We Do" survey, fill it out and arrange to have it picked up by calling Jackie Awosika at (480) 883-3109.