Some state employees are one step closer to receiving pay increases for the 2015-2017 fiscal year while others could bring home less money. The states Joint Committee on Employment Relations voted on two different provision on Tuesday now on their way to the legislature.
Under the plan, state troopers would see a 3 percent raise during both the 2015 and 2016 fiscal years. Gregory Gracz is director of the Office of State Employee Relations. He says the hope is that the raise would reduce turnover within the organization.
“Negotiations in this contract were not done in a vacuum. It’s an agreement that both DOT and the union can live with,” Gracz says.
Police and firefighter unions were not impacted by Act 10, which did away with most collective bargaining rights for public sector unions. The pay raises would be retroactive meaning troopers would receive a lump sum payment dating back from July 1, 2013. Along with that pay raise, troopers will also see their health care premiums nearly triple starting with the 2015 fiscal year. While lawmakers were happy to approve a pay hike for state troopers, Democratic Rep. Jennifer Shilling wonders if it’s enough.
“This gets us part of the way, gets us along the path, but certainly to use a state trooper term, not to the mile marker that I feel comfortable with our state troopers and their contract,” Shilling says.
Shilling says it’s been about five years since state troopers received a pay raise and her hope is to revisit this issue soon. Shilling also expressed concern over the fact that tens of thousands of other state employees will receive no pay increase.
“So trying to figure out the math, zero (pay) increase, but increase in added deductibles, out of pocket limits, co-insurance, certain prescription drugs, copayments, I mean those are going to go up. So this is going to become negative. It’s not even zero, it’s a wage decrease for thousands of employees and families in this state,” Shilling says.
State lawmakers are expected to vote on the two proposals when they take up the 2015-2017 state budget.
