By:Chris Munzing
According to people close to the negotiations, Spiritis originally offered to move the union's members to Empire Healthcare, which is less expensive but also considered less desirable. When union officials did not immediately accept that offer, they said Spiritis then tried to force them to take HIP.
Long Beach CSEA Executive Vice President Colleen Silvia said that the union filed some three dozen grievances against the city with the state's Public Employee Relations Board May 28, accusing the city of violating the collective bargaining agreement.
Talks to settle the matter were continuing on Wednesday afternoon, as the Herald went to press.
Spiritis said that by switching to HIP, the city would save $500,000 to $600,000 per year, which he said can be set aside to prevent further layoffs and was a factor in keeping the tax burden at its current level in the last budget. "People are being kept because of the switch to HIP," he said.
"We don't want HIP," Silvia said, adding that HIP's service is "archaic." "It's not the same thing we have now, and our members are upset about it. Everything is up in the air right now, and we don't know what's happening."
A general CSEA membership meeting on June 4 with HIP representatives confirmed that union members were unsatisfied with the coverage they would be getting with the new provider.
"The city gave us an ultimatum to approve a switch [to Empire]," Silvia said of the beginning of the initial change, before Spiritis ultimately chose HIP. "It would be one thing if were guaranteed no more layoffs, but we're not getting that guarantee."
The budget for the 2004-2005 fiscal year calls for more layoffs. "The chiefs are the ones who are supposed to leave," Silvia said. "The little Indians aren't supposed to get stepped on."
Spiritis explained that Aetna's coverage was not enough for some employees' health needs. Peter Hauser, who works in the city's mailroom, had to sue Aetna to receive the coverage he needed. Chris DeFilippo, a captain in the fire department, was given special permission by Spiritis to switch to the Empire plan to get proper coverage.
"This is all political," Spiritis said of the union's handling of the situation. "The union is giving us a hard time."
According to the collective bargaining agreement, the union must approve any switch in health care by a majority vote if there is any change in coverage.
Approval is not needed for the switch to HIP, Spiritis said, because it involves the same coverage that union members are getting now. Spiritis did say, however, that HIP does not provide the extent of coverage that Empire does, which includes specialists and certain medications.
Silvia said that an informal survey of CSEA members found that many were not comfortable switching to Empire because of the higher costs. "We have employees who are sick, or have sick family members," Silvia said. "We just want to do our jobs."
