2016-2017 NJ State PBA Collective Bargaining Annual Report
We are prepared to meet collective bargaining challenges
GEORGE F. O’ BRIEN
LABOR RELATIONS
We who serve on the Collective Bargaining Committee hope that everyone had an enjoyable summer and a productive year.
As we look forward to Fiscal Year 2017-18 and the challenges it will bring, we can take comfort in the fact that we are well prepared to meet those challenges with knowledge and the ability to move forward.
As for Fiscal Year 2016-17 ending September 2017, the NJ State PBA received a record number of 312 collective bargaining agreements. This represents a 55-percent increase over the previous fiscal year. But, before we can pat ourselves on the back, it should be noted that, at the direction of the collective bargaining committee, fully one-third of those 312 agreements were downloaded from the PERC website by Mary Ann Drost.
It is very important for state delegates from each Local to submit their newly negotiated collective bargaining agreements to the State PBA, not only for the rank-and-file members, but also for the SOAs as well. When submitting a new contract, it is essential to your members to submit a signed copy of the agreement. Inasmuch as the PBA maintains each agreement on file for future use, for a retiree or current member doing research or when a governing body decides to alter retirees’ benefits, a signed contract always gives the advocate the ability to make a stronger argument.
As is reported at each New Delegates training, it is the responsibility of the state delegate for both rank-and-file Locals and SOAs to submit collective bargaining agreements, pursuant to Article VII, Section 1, sub-section c. of the State PBA Constitution and By-Laws. We are improving and getting better, but we still have a ways to go at getting each Local’ s contract into the state office.
Because the State PBA has been collecting contracts since 1985, we now have accumulated thousands upon thousands of agreements. These contracts are in storage in the basement. As you might imagine, it requires several filing cabinets to store that many documents. The PBA is currently in the process of acquiring new equipment to convert each of these agreements to a PDF file and enter them into a new database. This will free up important space downstairs, preserve the contracts from the mishaps that befall paper documents, preserve the current condition of the collective bargaining agreements and make them more efficiently retrievable. We are looking forward to starting this project by the end of this year.
I would like to mention that the State PBA Collective Bargaining Committee is actively collecting data on each of the contracts that reflect a successfully negotiated reduction of health benefits cost sharing. To date, the PBA is aware of 15 Locals that have reduced their premium share on their health insurance payments.
16 NEW JERSEY COPS ■ OCTOBER 2017
Here is some additional data about cost-sharing:
• Six Locals have reduced cost sharing to 1.5 percent.
• One Local has reduced cost sharing to 1.5 percent( upon retirement).
• One Local has reduced cost sharing to 10 percent.
• One Local has reduced cost sharing to 17.5 percent.
• Two Locals have reduced cost sharing to 20 percent.
• One Local has reduced cost sharing to 26 percent.
• One Local has reduced cost sharing to 26.25 percent.
• One Local has reduced cost sharing to 30 percent.
• One Local has reduced the variable ascending percentage to 35 percent.
If anyone would like further information, please contact me at the state office. We are constantly updating data which also applies to the wage portions of the collective bargaining spreadsheets.
As in the past, the wages are separated into base salary and salary with longevity. These groupings are to be found in separate labeled sections. In instances where a change has taken place in the wage guide – i. e. the number of steps to maximum wage, changes in the longevity benefit, such as moving from a percentage increase to a fixed dollar amount or longevity being removed or lowered by increasing the number of years to attain the next step – this information can be found in the comments section at the back of the particular section being reviewed.
All this information is available to Locals at no cost. To receive this data, the requesting Local should have its collective bargaining agreement on file with the State PBA.
For Fiscal Year 2016-17, this office has distributed 9,845 pages of data to 106 Locals. This represents a 37-percent increase in data supplied to Locals over the previous year.
The highest base wage for 2017 is in a Bergen County jurisdiction, while the lowest base wage jurisdiction is in Cumberland County. The average wage increase in 2017 is 2.5 percent per annum based upon 189 agreements on file.
As a member of the Police and Fire Public Interest Arbitration Impact Task Force, I received the most recent report made to the governor and state legislature on April 19, 2016. The following is a result of that report:
• P. L. 2010, c. 105 established strict deadlines for the issuance of interest arbitration awards.
• P. L. 2014 c. 11 extended the deadlines for an arbitrator’ s award from 45 days to 90 days.
• Interest Arbitration Petitions filed: 9
• Interest Arbitration Closed Dockets: 22
• Interest Arbitration Awards Issued: 6
• Interest Arbitration Voluntary Settlements: 9
• Interest Arbitration Appeals Filed: 3
• Impasse Filings Police: 4
• Impasse Filings Fire: 3
• Fact Finding Police: 0
• Fact Finding Fire: 1