Serving as co-chief negotiator, the APA’s Melanie Waltz lead efforts on behalf of the APA and the Coalition of Labor Organizations at MSU to negotiate a successor wage and health care agreement with the University. The APA is proud to have played a key leadership role among all campus support staff unions to fend off many University proposals that would have otherwise made a significant shift in health care costs to the employee and functionally scaled back member wages.
Throughout negotiations, updates were provided in newsletter articles, discussions took place during official APA meetings, and conversations were held at the many APA Community Luncheons hosted around campus. After months of bargaining, the Negotiations Team reached a tentative agreement with the University late in the evening of June 27.
APA’s leadership in our collective union effort resulted in maintaining fully funded health care for the next four years – through December 31, 2021 – as well as enhanced the annual eligible base wage increases provided to all APA members in October each year.
Additionally, the ratified agreement included an improvement on how we calculate our health care cost increase which may result in greater annual eligible base wage increases and lump sum bonuses for every APA member each year.
The APA Executive Board reviewed and discussed the proposed agreement during their meeting on Monday, July 10, 2017. The APA Executive Board unanimously voted to transmit the tentative agreement to the APA membership with recommendation and the APA membership officially ratified the agreement on August 8, 2017, with 630 (91%) members voting in favor of the agreement.
The APA has posted the complete joint wage and health care agreement, as well as a summary document to explain all the elements of the ratified agreement, on the APA website at http://lay.wyz.mybluehost.me/apa-2017-health-care-tentative-agreement.
In conclusion, through the process of collective bargaining the APA and campus unions protected workers from the impact of a major cost shift and benefit reductions proposed by the MSU Administration. Without the hard work of the APA and the other campus unions, and by having an equal voice at the table with MSU, the employees would be paying far more for health care and would have experienced a roll back in real wages.
The strength of our union is contingent on a fully resourced local which is only possible through full membership from each eligible member. It is through that solidarity that we are able to retain the vibrant wages, heath care coverage, retirement match 2-1, and other fringe benefits that all APA members enjoy every day.