CSUEU E-News: November 30, 2011
Biweekly news digest from the California State University Employees Union
If you would like to receive CSUEU E-News directly via email, please sign up at the CSUEU site.
CONTRACT BARGAINING RESUMES ON DECEMBER 5
CSU BOARD OF TRUSTEES CANCELS NEXT MEETING
HEARING SCHEDULED ON PROTEST INCIDENTS
MID-YEAR TRIGGER CUT TO THE CSU LOOKS LIKELY
NEW POLL: PAY HIGHER TAXES FOR BETTER SCHOOLS
PUBLIC PENSION SECURITY FOR CALIFORNIA
CALPERS ANNOUNCES PHARMACY BENEFIT CHANGES
SIGN UP FOR THE MEMBER BENEFITS NEWSLETTER
* * *
Contract Bargaining Resumes on December 5
For the first time since October, contract negotiations resume this Monday, December 5, with three consecutive days of bargaining set to take place at the Office of the Chancellor in Long Beach.
“Negotiations are at a pivotal point,” said CSUEU President Pat Gantt. “Some of the most important issues, including protection against layoffs, contracting out and proposed parking fee hikes, are still left to be resolved. We need everyone to keep up with events next week and to continue to lend their full support to the CSUEU team.”
Added Senior Labor Relations Representative Lois Kugelmass, who serves as the union’s chief negotiator, “At the CSU Board of Trustees meeting on November 15, we delivered over 5,000 petitions protesting the proposed parking fee hike. The Board of Trustees heard us loud and clear when we said the proposed parking fee hike won’t fly with our members. Management needs to do a lot more to get the contract resolved, and our bargaining team will keep delivering that message to them with your support!”
Read the last bargaining report, posted following negotiations at CSU Dominguez Hills on October 20.
CSU Board of Trustees Cancels December 5 Meeting
In a press release distributed this morning, CSU announced that a CSU Board of Trustees meeting planned for this Monday, December 5, has just been canceled.
The cancellation puts into further question the board’s commitment to public discussion and dissent. “It would have been more prudent for the board to address the problems of the November 16 meeting on December 5, rather than waiting until January,” said CSUEU President Pat Gantt. “They clearly mismanaged that meeting. They should grant amnesty to the four students who were arrested, just as UC has done with students arrested at recent protests on their campuses.”
Added VP for Member Engagement Joseph Dobzynski, Jr., “It isn’t surprising that the trustees canceled the meeting or that they cited the confrontation on November 16 as the reason. The trustees made it clear then—and reaffirmed it through this cancellation—that, in the words of Trustee Achtenberg on the 16th, they really couldn’t care less what we think.”
Read the CSU press release announcing the cancellation.
Read the CSUEU response to the November 16 meeting.
Hearing Scheduled on Protest Incidents
On November 22, Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) announced that he has approved a request by Assembly Higher Education Committee Chair Marty Block (D-San Diego) to convene hearings to look into the use of excessive force by UC police officers against peaceful demonstrators at UC Berkeley and UC Davis earlier this month.
UC leaders responded to those incidents by announcing they’ll conduct a thorough examination of police procedures, protocols and training, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California is investigating the incidents.
The joint hearing of Block’s committee and Senate Education Committee, which will be held on Wednesday, December 14, is additionally expected to address the use of pepper spray against protestors at the November 16 CSU Board of Trustees meeting. Read Joseph Dobzynski’s November 17 blog entry detailing that turn of events.
Speaker Pérez’s announcement was made after he visited with UC Davis students to listen to their concerns regarding a highly publicized incident during which peaceful student demonstrators were pepper-sprayed by campus police. Following similarly troubling events at the UC Berkeley campus, Speaker Pérez also visited there.
“Like most Californians, I have been absolutely appalled at some of the incidents that have taken place in recent days against peaceful protestors,” Speaker Pérez said in a statement. “Students, parents and the public deserve to have answers to the myriad of troubling questions these incidents have raised.”
Speaker Pérez is an ex officio Regent of the UC System, as well as a trustee of the CSU system, and Assemblymember Block is a former dean and professor at San Diego State.
Mid-Year Trigger Cut to the CSU Looks Likely
On November 16, California’s fiscal analyst announced that the state is projected to face a $13 billion budget shortfall over the next 18 months, suggesting that Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers will have to make another round of spending cuts. Under the budget plan passed last summer, a shortfall of that magnitude would trigger cuts to higher education—including at least $100 million to the CSU system in the current 2011-12 fiscal year—along with public schools, services for seniors, and healthcare programs for the needy.
A series of automatic cuts will take effect based on revenue reports from the Legislative Analyst’s Office and the governor’s Department of Finance, depending on which provides the higher revenue projection. The finance department will release its projection by Dec. 15.
The big question is whether the cut to the CSU will be deemed one-time or annual. If it’s the latter, the immediate cut to the CSU will double to up to $200 million.
“While the CSU has hinted that a $100 million cut can potentially be handled without major impacts to staff, a cut of the magnitude of $200 million takes the system into rather uncharted territory,” said CSUEU President Pat Gantt. “The potential impacts are difficult to assess at this time, but could be potentially severe on the staffing side. We will keep everyone posted and will certainly do everything possible to save jobs no matter how large the trigger cut might be.”
Read a recent San Jose Mercury News article with further details on potential impacts to 2011-12 budgets.
Read a CSU press release with details about the CSU’s 2012-13 budget request.
New Poll: Californians Willing to Pay Higher Taxes for Better Schools
A strong majority of California voters—64 percent—is willing to pay higher taxes to boost funding for K-12 public schools even in a grim economy, a new poll has found. Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, a research consulting firm, recently co-directed the bipartisan poll for the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles Times.
Sixty percent of Republicans who described themselves as moderate or liberal and three-fourths of Democrats said they would support more taxes to pay for schools.
Read complete details in this November 19 Los Angeles Times article.
Public Pension Security for California
By Dave Low, chairman of Californians for Retirement Security, a coalition of more than 1.5 million Californians representing public employees and retirees, including CSEA
This commentary in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times has achieved "most commented status,” and, unfortunately—but not surprisingly—most of the comments are negative, and many are incorrect. Feel free to log on to the Times’ web site to reply to these comments and to support Californians for Retirement Security and public employee pensions.
When the legislature reconvenes next month, one of the front-and-center issues will be public pension restructuring. California's public employee unions intend to be vigorous participants in this effort. It is important to note, though, that unions have long been active in negotiating changes at both the state and local levels that have reduced public costs while continuing to ensure decent retirements for public workers.
These changes include increasing employee contributions and reducing pension formulas, which have already eased state budget costs by $600 million over the last two years. Similar changes are being negotiated in more than 200 California cities, counties and local districts, where public employees have agreed to pay more into pension plans, reduce benefits and lower costs.
Meanwhile, the sky is not falling, even though public pension foes have been issuing Chicken Little warnings about the collapse of the treasury if large and immediate cuts are not made to the entire pension system. Public employee pension contributions take up just 3% of the state budget. That's less than the 3.8 percent of state and local budgets contributed to public pensions nationwide, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Read all of Dave Low’s commentary.
CalPERS Announces Pharmacy Benefit Changes
Beginning January 1, 2012, CalPERS members will see a few changes in their health plan pharmacy benefits that were approved by the CalPERS Board of Administration earlier this year.
One change is a “member pays the difference” requirement. Under this new rule, when a doctor prescribes a brand name drug and an FDA-approved generic equivalent is available, the member will pay the difference between the costs of the brand name and the generic drug. The member will also have to make the generic drug co-payment.
In June, the CalPERS Board of Administration awarded CVS Caremark the contract as the new Pharmacy Benefits Manager (PBM) for CalPERS self-funded PPO plans. CVS Caremark’s Maintenance Choice Program allows a member to enjoy same-day prescription availability and to talk face-to-face with a pharmacist while paying a low mail-order co-payment. More information on CVS Caremark and the transition of PBM services is available online at www.caremark.com/calpers.
On a related note, a recent update shows that CalPERS investments now pay 66 cents of every dollar in pensions paid. The remainder of each dollar paid comes from two other sources: 21 cents from CalPERS employers and 13 cents from CalPERS members. CalPERS pays out approximately $14 billion in pension benefits each year to retirees and beneficiaries.
Sign Up to Receive the Monthly Member Benefits Newsletter
With the holiday season fast approaching, every dollar counts. The December edition of the CSEA Member Benefits newsletter features discounts for CSUEU-represented employees on gifts, electronics, special events, travel destinations, insurance and more.
An easy way to save money through your Member Benefits department: have the newsletter delivered directly to your email inbox once a month by subscribing at the Member Benefits web site.
* * *
See back issues of CSUEU E-News, distributed every other Thursday.
— End —