In my
August President's Message, I wrote about the plight of the 13,000
higher education workers who had unfunded contracts.In my
August President's Message, I wrote about the plight of the 13,000
higher education workers who had unfunded contracts.
Since then, the Red Sox have finished their season, the Celtics have opened their season, daylight savings time is just a memory, but the Democratic legislature still has not seen the wisdom of funding these contracts.
On September 20th, the MTA Executive Committee voted to make funding of higher education contracts the number one priority for the MTA this year. This is historically important for the MTA in that the number one priority of the entire organization centers on collective bargaining in public higher education.
As I talk to our unit members throughout the state, I continue to field questions concerning our one-year contract extension and the other unfunded contracts. The history of the unfunded contracts and our one year extension is quite different. In 2001, then acting Governor Jane Swift approved negotiated pay contracts and submitted a bill to the legislature for funding. The legislature voted to fund the contracts but in a reversal, Jane Swift reneged on a signed agreement and vetoed contracts she had previously approved.
In contrast, our oneyear extension was not signed until August of 2002, almost one year after Swift submitted the legislation for the unfunded contracts. This extension was an agreement negotiated between the MCCC and the BHE. Both Governors Swift and Romney have refused to file legislation that would have funded our April 1, 2003 points payments.
The MCCC continues to work with the BHE and the college presidents in an effort to get the executive office to file the necessary legislation. Obviously with Governor Romney in the corner office this will be an extremely difficult task. If we are successful in getting legislation filed, we will let you know immediately, so that you can contact your legislators.
However, since the Swift veto of the unfunded contracts, no state employee collective bargaining agreements have been funded. Our current task is clear. We must force the legislature to honor signed collective bargaining agreements.
Even though our contract extension is not officially part of the unfunded contracts campaign our mission is to collectively fight for the pay increases due to the 13,000 union members (our ASFSCME colleagues on the community college campuses) working at public higher education institutions in the state. Both as individuals and as an organization we must do everything possible to force the legislature to keep their promise and fund the contracts.
The future of all collective bargaining in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is at stake. Both the legislature and the governor have a moral obligation to fund contracts that were negotiated in good faith. Call or write your Representative and your Senator today. They must keep their end of the deal. Higher education employees are honoring their contracts, and the state must do the same.
In Solidarity,
Rick