Selectmen opt for expedited collective bargaining

Date: 1/16/2012

Jan. 16, 2012

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

WILBRAHAM — The Board of Selectmen decided to engage in expedited collective bargaining with public employee unions in regards to changes in health insurance through the Scantic Valley Health Trust.

“Last year the state legislature changed the law [Chapter 32B] with regard to plan design for healthcare for public employees,” Treasurer Thomas Sullivan told the Selectmen at their Jan. 9 meeting. “Previously, we would have entered into negotiations with the unions to make any plan design changes. Part of the change in the law allows Scantic Valley to make a design change and then local government at their option can go into what’s called Sect. 21 of expedited collective bargaining to implement those changes.”

The changes in health insurance deal primarily with increases in co-pays for town employees. Sullivan indicated if the town opted against adopting the healthcare changes, they would no longer be a Scantic Valley Health Trust member.

“If we want to remain in Scantic Valley, we have to move forward with these changes,” he said. “They basically involve increased co-pays for employees, so there’s a shifting of cost from the employer to the employee.”

Sullivan added that the increase in co-pays will result in an estimated decrease in the cost of health insurance premiums of 7 percent and there is an added benefit for employees.

“There are savings involved. For active employees alone, total savings is approximately $100,000 on premiums — $75,000 for employer, $25,000 for employees,” he said. “In the first year, 25 percent of those savings must go back to the employee in some fashion.”

Board of Selectmen Chair Patrick Brady questioned why the town was associated with the Scantic Valley Health Trust, as opposed to operating within the state’s Group Insurance Commission (GIC) health care system.

“You lose, basically, local control,” Sullivan said of the state plan. “What we can do is have local control over the plan, still do the wellness that we’re doing and still be comparable to the GIC.”