Carcieri reaches tentative deal with unions

PROVIDENCE -- Gov. Don Carcieri reached a tentative deal Friday with more than three-dozen state employee labor unions that would require workers to pay more for their health insurance and forgo a raise in the coming year, a union official said.

A budget proposal approved by lawmakers this week depended on Carcieri saving $60 million by renegotiating salary and benefits with the state's unionized work force. The Republican governor said the tentative agreement would fall short of that goal, but he would not release any details.

Without the full $60 million in savings, the budget will not be balanced, which is required by state law. Carcieri said in the coming days he would release plans to deal with any shortfall.

State leaders have struggled for months to close a massive budget deficit by removing immigrant children and adults from state-funded health insurance, releasing prisoners from jail, cutting welfare benefits and raising fines for motor vehicle violations.  (Read related article.)

"While it won't achieve the full $60 million in savings we had hoped for, this tentative deal includes some unprecedented reforms for Rhode Island taxpayers," Carcieri said in a written statement.

Each of the 38 separate unions will vote on the proposed terms. Unions that reject the agreement would continue negotiating with the Carcieri administration. J. Michael Downey, the president of Council 94, the state's largest union, said he will urge his members to reject it.

Under the deal, union members would be required to pay a percentage of their health care premiums, he said. Most unionized workers now pay a percentage of their salaries for health care, which is usually cheaper.

If the contract is approved, workers would forgo a raise for the fiscal year starting in July, Downey said. They would receive a 2.5 percent raise in the second year, followed by 3 percent raises in years three and four.

Downey said the combination of paltry raises and increased health care costs will hurt the low-paid workers he represents.

"The governor is really taking it out on some low-paid people," he said.

Carcieri has a contentious relationship with the state's labor unions. To deal with the budget crisis, he announced a plan last year to eliminate about 1,100 state jobs through layoffs and attrition. Lawmakers also approved his plan requiring state workers to pay more for retiree health insurance.