Unions are open to state health plan but want more time

By JOHN P. KELLY
The Patriot Ledger

QUINCY - Heads of the city’s major unions publicly resisted Mayor William Phelan’s push to convert to a state-run health insurance plan, saying a short deadline has left workers virtually no time to grasp how the change would affect them.

Unions representing police, firefighters, teachers and others said joining the Group Insurance Commission holds the potential to save both taxpayers and workers money. But rushing to a decision by the state’s Oct. 1 deadline gives workers no time to research what the switch would mean financially and in terms of health coverage, and it could corrupt continuing contract negotiations between several unions and the city, they said.

The testimony came during a public hearing Monday night before the city council, which postponed adopting the state law, passed in July, that lets cities and towns join the state plan. Instead, the council sent the measure to committee, essentially leaving it to the administration and the unions to reach an accord.

Phelan has lobbied aggressively to move to the state plan, saying up to $8 million in yearly savings -- are at stake.

The city council voted to support the two-month deadline extension Phelan said he wants the Legislature to grant to Quincy so it can join by next year. For the city to join, at least 70 percent of the city’s 2,000-plus unionized workers must endorse forming a coalition.

Prospects seemed dim on Monday.

“We can’t have this shoved down our throats,” said Paul Phillips, head of the city’s teachers union, whose 900 members account for about 40 percent of city workers.

Phillips, who supports moving to the state plan, said the city called its first meeting on the issue on Sept. 11 and has provided no information to workers. Phillips said Phelan has unfairly accused him of hampering the move to state group insurance while espousing it as being “the answer for every ill the city has.”

“It might be pretty good,” Phillips said. “But I have 900 people who all have lives ... and different needs.”

Early next year, the Group Insurance Commission could alter the health plans it offers, further complicating the matter for Quincy’s work force, union officials said.

“I feel like they’re blindfolding us and asking us to walk into a room and tell them what we see,” said Carol Evans, representing the city’s 39 bus drivers.

The administration has said city workers would save roughly $1.3 million in premium and co-pay costs by making the change. Phillips said many of the workers who stand to benefit are already “lining up” in support.

City unions tried as recently as last year to form a coalition, similar to the one now sought, but Phelan rejected the idea, the union heads said. And Phillips said the state’s “muddled” law leaves workers in a bind: forming a coalition empowers the mayor to sign onto the state plan without forcing a negotiation.

“I don’t think we should even be talking about this until all of the unions have a contract,” firefighters union President Ernest Arienti said.

Firefighters are among more than a dozen of the city’s 19 unions that have yet to reach an agreement with the city since their contracts expired last year.

John P. Kelly may be reached at jkelly@ledger.com.