On Thursday, December 4th, about 20 MGEC members met with Interim Executive Director Tony Kelly and MGEC Representative Mark Trogstad-Issacson. Over pizza, details of the new labor agreement between MGEC and the state were discussed, and some other topics came up in a way that otherwise might not have if there wasn’t delicious pizza and face-to-face interaction. Most of the members were from the DOT, but we did have a member come from the Board of Water and Soil Resources!
Members had questions about the nature of this year’s negotiations and sought context around the board’s decision to recommend passage of the tentative agreement, as well as the nature of the decision to not take this year’s negotiation to an arbitrator. We recapped the trends in public sector bargaining, how exploding healthcare costs affected the rest of the economic package, and the likelihood of attaining more than the TA offered through arbitration. We also covered how arbitrators use salary data from comparable public employers over lengths of time to arrive at their decisions.
We also heard from members directly affected by the state’s claim that some FLSA exempt employees were “overpaid”, gathering more detail on the circumstances of the state’s unfounded claim. Some members wanted more detail on how the state is using – or not using – Achievement Awards. We are able to take that concern directly back to the employer to answer the question.
Most of these topics are nuanced, and there’s simply no substitute for quality face-to-face conversations. THANK YOU to Mark T.I. for facilitating this lunch! If you’d like MGEC to come to your work area, let your MGEC Representative know and we will make it happen.