• If pre-Medicare, increase monthly premium share for HMO and PPO plans by $2 to $13 per month beginning July 1, 2012
• If Medicare eligible, no change



• Future Retirees (retired from employment on or after July 1, 2012)
  • Pay 5% of Medicare supplement (at current rate would be approximately $20/month)

Pension changes at a glance

• Current employees (hired by State prior to December 31, 2011)
• No changes
• Future employees (hired by State on or after January 1, 2012)

  • Increase vesting period from 5 to 10 years
  • Increase early retirement penalty from .2 % to .4 % of pension per month
  • Increase employee contribution from 3 % to 5 % of salary after first $6,000 of income
  • Change normal retirement age from

  62 with 5 years service

  60 with 15 years service, or

  Any age after 30 years service --

  to

  65 with 10 years service

  60 with 20 years service, or

  Any age after 30 years service

• Eliminates overtime from compensation for pension calculations

All of these changes are embodied in HB81 with HA1 which DSEA supports.

This bill passed the House April 7 (3 no votes: Lavelle, Blakey and Manolakos), and is now on its way to the Senate. It is very possible that it will be voted out of committee Wednesday April 13 and brought up quickly on the Senate floor Thursday April 14.

This agreement allows the state to continue to offer benefits commensurate with state service, thus remaining competitive to attract qualified people to state service.

 

Read what the Governor wrote to leaders in the General Assembly, urging them to adopt the elements in our agreement, HB 81.

Here is a chart showing the approximate long-term savings to the state of the agreement.

January 2011... Governor Markell wants to find $3.2 million in savings this year from employee benefits; agrees to series of meetings to hear our ideas on finding solutions that won't hurt state workers, rather to find savings in pension, OPEB and health care.

Here in Delaware, we will do our part to find savings in employee benefits
The Governor has agreed to discuss with us and other members of the Coalition (specifically representatives from the biggest state unions, i.e., DSEA, AFSCME and the State Troopers) to listen to our ideas about finding savings in benefits in pensions. We have hadsix meetings to date where we have shared areas that our insurance consultant has said savings could be found.

Read our reponse to Governor's desire to find $3.2 million in savings ($100 million over next five years) in state's employee costs. This actually was a response sent to the News Journal from the leaders of the Coalition of State Workers United for a Better Delaware. It appeared Feb. 17, 2011.

Our goal: protect your benefits in the long-term. Stay tuned!

Click here for a Power Point overview of the Pension and Health Care situation which was presented to DSEA's local leaders at the recent Winter Advocacy Retreat.

Update from around the country, March 15, 2011

WI- You know the big news.  Next steps?  The recall of eight Republicans is gaining momentum.  Also, NEA is working with WEAC and a coalition of attorneys to explore every legal option for challenging the Senate’s outrageous action to decimate collective bargaining in the state.  Stay tuned…
Ohio- These are just a few of the rights that could pass within two weeks: Can’t bargain much besides wages ~ which must be based on “performance” measures including a value added measure of student performance;  eliminates the right to strike; eliminates seniority as sole basis for layoff (replaced with “performance” based measures); prohibits bargaining almost all working conditions….even healthcare; prohibits any agreement preventing an employer from privatizing services.
Michigan - The state Senate voted to give broad powers to highly paid state ‘takeover czars’ in school districts and cities in financial distress. The legislation will allow emergency financial managers to throw out union contracts and overrule elected officials, including school board members. They will have the authority to dissolve local school boards and merge districts with neighboring schools, cancel employee contracts or portions of contracts, and make other significant decisions that will impact students, employees, and communities.
Pennsylvania - In addition to slashing education funding, the Governor is proposing sweeping policy changes including: elimination of state support for master's salary increases, private and religious school vouchers, economic furloughs (not using seniority), property tax referenda, and merit pay. www.psea.org/schoolfunding
Idaho- Continuing the Governor’s attack on teachers, they passed a bill stripping teachers of their rights. Coming next are the unfunded pay-for-performance bill, and a third bill to increase class sizes, impose technology mandates, and eliminate a thousand or more Idaho education jobs.  Rallies are being organized all over the state.
Missouri- House is considering a bill that would eliminate teacher tenure/fair dismissal and place all new and existing teachers on one to three year contracts, at the school district's discretion.  Teachers would have a right to a hearing before the board if the district seeks to terminate the contract early, but teachers would have no expectation or right to renewal once the one to three-year contract has expired. Teachers could be non-renewed for any reason or no reason at all.
Two hot issues:
Pension –Proposed changes:
• increasing current employee pension contributions (Alabama, Kansas, Maine, New Jersey, Ohio, Wisconsin, Arizona, Illinois); • taxing pension income (Hawaii, Michigan);
• reducing/freezing cost-of-living increases (Maine, Ohio, Oklahoma);
• eliminating COLAs (Arizona, New Jersey);
• rolling back increases in the formula for benefit payments (New Jersey);
• shifting employees to a mandatory defined contribution or hybrid plan (Arizona, Florida; Kentucky, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Wisconsin) • stopping pension spiking (California and Massachusetts);
• increasing vesting requirements or retirement age (Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina); and
• making employees contribute to the plan (Florida, Oregon).  

Seniority - The New Teacher Project has just released a "report" calling for the end of seniority as the governing factor in layoff decisions. http://tntp.org/files/TNTP_Case_Against_Quality_Blind_Layoffs_Feb2011.pdf  The report targets the following fourteen states for legislative proposals to end "quality-blind layoff laws" - Alaska, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Stay Informed: NEA's Education Votes web site has the most up to date coverage on state battles….from news, photos and statements of support to opportunities get members involved. NEA also has a collection of the best blogs related to state attacks at: http://www.edvoices.com/blog/2011/03/10/wisconsin-blog-roundup/

Wisconsin Senate strips workers’ collective bargaining rights

MADISON, WI.. March 9, 2011... In a blatant abuse of power, Wisconsin Republican lawmakers dealt a blow to the working class tonight with passage of the anti-union provisions of Gov. Walker’s Budget Adjustment Bill on an 18-1 vote.They took out the money provisions so that they would not need a quorum(a requirement of the Wisconsin Senate) in order to vote. The bill they passed the night of March 9 strips collective bargaining rights for public workers.

No Democratic Senators were present.

Statement from WEAC President Mary Bell on Senate vote
Posted: 3/9/2011 7:37:36 PM

Tonight, Senate and Assembly Republicans pushed forward an extreme power grab with an unconscionable maneuver that split collective bargaining off from the fiscal items in the budget repair bill – rigging an 18-to-1 vote in the Senate. The Assembly will vote tomorrow.

“This is heart wrenching and unconscionable – and we won’t back down. For weeks our members have pushed forward with aggressive advocacy to have their voices heard about the need to protect their rights. We’ve won the battle in the court of opinion – and we’ve exposed the truth behind Governor Walker and Legislative Republican’s motives.

“I know this isn’t over. We are outraged, hurt and betrayed – but he will not break us.

“I ask Wisconsin’s educators to be at work tomorrow as we coordinate with the Labor Coalition to determine next steps to make the voices of Wisconsin workers heard.”

NEA sent out a press release March 10 with these remarks from NEA President Dennis Van Roekel:
“Wisconsin’s Republican lawmakers met in the dark of night, in a near-empty Capitol, and stretched their authority to the breaking point in an attempt to ram through legislation that the public does not support and that will harm thousands of the American working class,” said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. “Its legality is dubious. Its intent is mean spirited. It is perhaps the most grievous example of how democratic decision making should not take place. The Governor and his legislative minions should be ashamed of what they’ve done.”
“In exercising the nuclear option to impose their will on Wisconsites, Governor Walker and Senate Republicans attacked middle class families, from students to seniors, in their state,” said Van Roekel. “This is an affront to teachers, nurses, students, firefighters, construction workers and other everyday people who stood up, spoke out, and learned how much their voice mattered to their elected leaders.  The response will be unified and the collective voice of millions of working Americans from all across this nation will only grow louder.”
Van Roekel added, “Just listen to Brad Lutes, a  physical education and health teacher in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.  He summed it up: ‘We can’t be defeated. There’s not really an alternative. You can take away my collective bargaining rights. You can take away my pension and some of my health care, but the one thing you can’t take away from me is my vote. I think that’s how a large majority of Wisconsinites and Americans feel right now.’”

Thank you, Rep. Boulden, Kowalko, Schwartzkopf, Mulrooney and Johnson

Bipartisan group of over 270 state legislators announces solidarity with “Wisconsin Fourteen”

New York, NY -- Today, hours after the Wisconsin Assembly advanced legislation that would strip workers of their collective bargaining rights, Progressive States Network released a letter signed by a bipartisan group of over 270 state legislators representing 44 states voicing their solidarity with the “Wisconsin Fourteen” state senators and urging them to stand firm in their fight. This still-growing group of state lawmakers representing vastly different constituencies in every corner of the nation has joined together over the course of the last 72 hours to stand up for the middle class as a national right-wing assault against workers’ rights threatened to spread to statehouses across the nation.

“At a time of historic income inequality and job losses in America, conservatives have launched a destructive ideological attack targeting the rights of workers in statehouses across the nation,” wrote the lawmakers. “As state legislators, we stand in solidarity with our colleagues in Wisconsin who are currently fighting this effort and ensuring that their constituents’ voices are heard.”

In the letter released today, the group of lawmakers also noted that, in contrast to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and others attempting to force through legislation benefiting big business and the wealthy in the states, they were dedicated to working “in a constructive manner with all relevant parties to advance a vision for our nation’s future that truly ensures the economic security of our communities.”

“More and more state legislators across the nation are standing up every day because this is not just about Wisconsin,” said State Rep. Garnet Coleman (Texas), Chair of the Board of Progressive States Network. “The survival of the middle class in this country is now at stake in statehouses across the nation. While conservatives in Wisconsin, Indiana, and other states try to ram through attacks on workers that don’t create a single job or save a single dollar in their budgets, progressives across the nation are coming together in solidarity to say it’s time for an approach that truly prioritizes the economic security of our families and states.”

The full text of the letter and list of signers is available at: http://progressivestates.org/solidarityWI.

 As of this posting, five DE State Reps had signed on:
Rep. Stephanie Bolden, Rep. James Johnson, Rep. John Kowalko, Rep. Michael Mulrooney and Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf

Thank you!!

Delaware is not Wisconsin
Although we are not in their shoes, we must remain vigilant!

Check out www.wispolitics.com for the latest on developments in Wisconsin.

Also, we're updating the DSEA web site daily: www.facebook.com/dseafan. Click on "LIKE" while you are there. 

We are very fortunate here in Delaware to have an administration that supports collective bargaining rights for employees. We are also fortunate that we are not engaged in a budget fight, but are able to work together with the administration, legislators and our coalition partners to find solutions to potential budget problems.

Governor Markell condemns Wisconsin Governor for his severe anti-union position

From NEA President Dennis Van Roeckel, Monday, February 21, 2011

"We need solutions, not scapegoats"


The NEA family has come out in force to support our members and colleagues in Wisconsin, as well as those in Idaho, Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio and Tennessee. Other states are facing unprecedented threats as well. Although we have made inroads in making the media aware of these battles across the country, all eyes and cameras continue to be on Wisconsin. Please remember as you are asked to talk about our battles across the country and the fight in Wisconsin that we are fighting for members to be heard and for their rights. Message discipline around Wisconsin's fight will help us in all our battles.

Update from the NEA/WEAC communications team on the ground in Madison (Mon., 2-21-11):
--This protest is about public sector employees retaining a voice in their profession and Wisconsin's future. The proposed legislation strips away worker rights and destroys the collaborative partnerships that have been established between labor and management in Wisconsin. It's not about pay and benefits, pensions and health care.

--What is happening right now in Wisconsin is historic. Tens of thousands of citizens - unprecedented numbers - are gathering and speaking out to show their support for the state's public servants. They want to voice support for the third grade teacher who stays late to help a student with math - for the nurses who work every day to care for patients - for the firefighters who keep us safe -- and for the snow plow drivers who plow streets through the night so their neighbors can get to work in the morning. These public workers are on the front-lines everyday to support us - and they should have a say in their profession.

--The people of Wisconsin are asking the Governor and legislature to hear them out - and work with them to find bipartisan solutions that will address Wisconsin's challenges. Silencing the voices of public sector employees by busting up their unions is not a going to help Wisconsin move forward - and it will only divide the people of this state.


Because we know everyone is looking for a way to lend their voice to our collective fights, here are three things you can do right now:
o Sign the petition on Education Votes website: educationvotes.nea.org/nationalpetition
o "Wear Red for Ed" to support public education beginning Tuesday, February 22nd , and every Tuesday this spring

Again, this is a national fight for working people. We're leaders in this fight. Let's spread the word, take action together, support each other. We're going to win this fight.

In solidarity,
Dennis Van Roeckel, president
National Education Association

Joseph DePierro, Dean of the College of Education and Human Services, Seton Hall University, DePierro, says:

"The get-tough-with-teachers policy that many politicians are pursuing is counterproductive and will only anger educators and hurt children. We are seeing the first examples of this in Wisconsin.

"Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said that “The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize.' Wisconsin cannot hope to improve its schools by cutting its education funding. The same holds true for the nation as a whole.

"Teachers are open to reform, but they need to be approached in a collaborative manner, not in a confrontational style. Apparently, Wisconsin has taken the same road as New Jersey – confrontation!

"I’m not supportive of teachers disrupting the education of children through job actions, but when you push someone to the brink, sometimes they go over the brink.

"None of the reforms being proposed around the nation  – school choice, merit pay, tenure elimination – have ever been linked to improved student performance. We keep looking for the silver bullet, but we will never find it because it does not exist."