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<DIV>DeLeo's budget would curb labor <BR>Localities could set health
payments<BR><BR>Boston Globe<BR><BR>By Michael Levenson and Noah
Bierman<BR><BR>April 14, 2011<BR><BR><A
href="http://www.gsmlaborcouncil.org/node/7392">http://www.gsmlaborcouncil.org/node/7392</A><BR><BR>House
Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, setting up a major fight<BR>with unions, proposed
yesterday to strip local public<BR>employees of most of their rights to bargain
over health<BR>care, as part of a $30.5 billion annual state budget<BR>that
imposes the largest year-to-year spending cut in<BR>two decades.<BR><BR>The
proposal to restrict collective bargaining rights,<BR>once unthinkable in
heavily Democratic Massachusetts,<BR>touched off a firestorm, with labor leaders
denouncing<BR>it as an assault on public workers and local officials<BR>calling
it a long overdue step to control soaring health<BR>costs. DeLeo's plan follows
tougher efforts in<BR>Wisconsin, Ohio, and other states to broadly deny
union<BR>workers such bargaining rights.<BR><BR>The House plan gives local
officials, such as mayors and<BR>town councils, unfettered authority to set
copayments<BR>and deductibles for local public employees without<BR>having to
negotiate with unions. Only the share of<BR>premiums paid by employees would be
on the health care<BR>bargaining table.<BR><BR>Ten percent of the savings from
the changes would be<BR>given back to union workers for one year. House
leaders<BR>said the plan would save cities and towns $100 million<BR>in the
budget year that begins in July.<BR><BR>"It's the most significant reform we can
make this<BR>year,'' said Brian S. Dempsey, a Haverhill Democrat and<BR>chairman
of the House Ways and Means Committee, which<BR>controls the budget
process.<BR><BR>Outraged union leaders said they would work to
oust<BR>legislators who vote for the plan.<BR><BR>"The only thing that this
budget does is silence the<BR>voice of working families,'' said Edward
Kelly,<BR>president of the Professional Fire Fighters of<BR>Massachusetts. "But
those voices won't be silent in<BR>November 2012.''<BR><BR>The House plan would
not raise taxes or fees, but it<BR>would cut $94 million more than the proposal
Governor<BR>Deval Patrick unveiled in January. State leaders are<BR>grappling
with the loss of $1.5 billion in federal<BR>stimulus money and a shaky economic
recovery.<BR><BR>House leaders said their plan would close a $1.9
billion<BR>state budget gap, in part by matching the governor's<BR>proposal to
withdraw $200 million from the state's rainy<BR>day fund.<BR><BR>The House plan
also matches the governor's proposal to<BR>boost school aid by $119 million and
to slash local aid<BR>by $65 million, or 7 percent, a reduction that will
hit<BR>police officers, firefighters, senior centers, and other<BR>local
services. Local aid has already been cut by 32<BR>percent, or $416 million, over
the last three years,<BR>according to the Massachusetts Municipal
Association.<BR><BR>Municipal officials said they could tolerate this
year's<BR>cut, but only if DeLeo succeeds in giving them greater<BR>power to
rein in rising health costs.<BR><BR>"You need this reform now; otherwise you're
going to<BR>[continue] to lay off employees to pay for benefits,''<BR>said Mayor
Scott W. Lang of New Bedford, president of<BR>the Massachusetts Mayors'
Association.<BR><BR>Local officials have been fighting over the issue
for<BR>years, frustrated that municipalities pay higher costs<BR>for their
employees than the state does for its workers<BR>through the state's health
insurance program. Local<BR>officials have complained that their unions
can<BR>effectively block any attempts to change their health<BR>care, unlike
state employees, who have no power to<BR>bargain over their copayments and
deductibles. Mayor<BR>Thomas M. Menino of Boston said health care will
cost<BR>his city over $300 million next year and will continue<BR>to rise unless
there is serious change.<BR><BR>"This plan provides the tools municipalities
across the<BR>Commonwealth need to keep teachers in classrooms, police<BR>on the
streets, and our neighborhoods clean and<BR>vibrant,'' Menino said in a
statement.<BR><BR>Public employee benefits have become a national<BR>flashpoint,
sparking protests nationwide. While<BR>Massachusetts remains a relative haven
for organized<BR>labor and the House plan falls far short of proposals
in<BR>other states, it nonetheless illustrates how the<BR>movement to curb union
power has made inroads in this<BR>state.<BR><BR>Labor leaders promised yesterday
to fight the plan by<BR>DeLeo, a longtime union ally who has pushed
their<BR>campaign to legalize casinos.<BR><BR>"This is going to wake up the
sleeping giant,'' said<BR>Raymond F. McGrath, lobbyist for the
International<BR>Brotherhood of Police Officers.<BR><BR>Patrick has sought a
middle ground between unions and<BR>local officials. His plan preserves some
power for<BR>unions to negotiate by giving them a brief window to<BR>bargain
before local officials would be allowed to<BR>impose their own terms
unilaterally. In addition,<BR>Patrick has held out the possibility of union
members<BR>keeping more than 10 percent of the savings.<BR><BR>Union leaders are
now looking to him and to Senate<BR>President Therese Murray to stand in DeLeo's
way. Murray<BR>declined to comment yesterday. At the Greater Boston<BR>Chamber
of Commerce last week, she said the Senate will<BR>give local officials greater
power to control health<BR>costs, but she added: "I emphatically agree with
the<BR>governor that labor has to be at the table.''<BR><BR>Jay Gonzalez,
Patrick's budget chief, called DeLeo's<BR>union proposal "largely good,'' but
reiterated that<BR>unions must have a role.<BR><BR>"They need to have a voice in
the process,'' he said.<BR>"They don't have a veto in getting to the result,
and<BR>the governor's been clear about that.''<BR><BR>The House budget would
also make painful cuts to social<BR>services. Medicaid spending next year would
be<BR>restrained by about $800 million, by forcing the poor to<BR>pay more for
prescription drugs and other medical<BR>services. House leaders said the state
can save $350<BR>million simply by renegotiating contracts with health<BR>care
companies.<BR><BR>In addition, most of the 11,500 elderly and
disabled<BR>residents who receive adult day care because they cannot<BR>live
independently will lose their services because of a<BR>$55 million cut. Dempsey
said he did not know what would<BR>happen to these people, many of whom are
frail and<BR>suffer neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's.<BR>"That's the
question and that's the concern,'' he said.<BR><BR>The House plan also
eliminates Medicaid coverage for<BR>19,000 legal immigrants, on top of 14,000
who have<BR>previously seen their benefits cut.<BR><BR>One hundred and
forty-five of the state's 626 mental<BR>health beds would be eliminated under
the House plan,<BR>slightly fewer than the 160 beds the governor
proposed<BR>cutting.<BR><BR>Patrick issued a statement saying he was pleased
that<BR>the House budget is balanced, but concerned that some of<BR>his
priorities -- such as Shannon grants and other<BR>program to combat youth
violence and health care for<BR>legal immigrants -- were not funded.<BR><BR>The
House budget waters down Patrick's sweeping proposal<BR>to create a new public
defender agency by hiring 1,000<BR>lawyers and 500 support staff. Instead the
plan calls<BR>for hiring 200 state public defenders and establishing a<BR>system
to screen out defendants who can afford to pay<BR>for their own
lawyers.<BR><BR>(c) Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper
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