Commissioners respond to striking union again

The Lorain County Commission responded Sept. 29 to accusations of striking social services workers on social media.

The statement was posted to the Lorain County Ohio Government Facebook page in response to United Auto Workers Local 2192.

The union’s members who work for Job and Family Services, and has been without a contract for over a year, went on strike Sept. 25.

The sticking point between the commissioners and the union continues to be the issue of a spousal carve-out, or surcharge, for health insurance.

In the recent statement, the commissioners expressed their displeasure with statements made by the union which they characterized as, “a thinlyveiled excuse to reposition the attention away from the genuine matter of spousal coverage adjustments to the health care plan sought by the commissioners.”

According to the statement, the commissioners said the union’s claim they were not sharing information on what the carveout will cost was inaccurate and that all the information available has been shared with the union.

The statement said the information shared with the union shows “that overall claims costs for spouses are disproportionate when compared to the number of spouses currently covered under the plan (22 percent of participants vs. 32 percent of costs), and the claims costs for covered employees.”

It also claims the union has accepted multiple contracts without full knowledge of the health care costs.

“Even within the contract which has been agreed to, except for the spousal coverage issue, the union has already agreed to pay a percentage of the cost for their health care in 2018 and 2019, at an undetermined cost,” the statement reads.

The statement said the rates for coverage are contingent on a number of factors and established for a single year, while labor contracts are negotiated on a three-year basis.

Rates for the following year are usually available and voted on by the commissioners in October or November.

“There is no way that the commissioners can get actuarial information today — for the impact of spousal coverage in health year in 2019,” the statement reads.

Co-chairs of the union, Kelly Fields and Andrea Thomas, confirmed to The Morning Journal that they have agreed to pay a percentage of the cost of health care without knowledge of what the rate increase will be.

But they contend the increases are around $8 to $10 per year.

“What they’re proposing is different than that,” Thomas said. “Their changes are talking about a whole new kind of health plan.

“If you’re going to propose a carve-out, or a surcharge, you have to know the details. You’re going to have to know how to administer that carve-out, and to date, they don’t know how they’re going to administer, or they haven’t let us know.”

Thomas said if the union signed a contract without knowledge of exactly what the carve-out, or surcharge, will cost the members, they could find themselves in particularly bad financial straits down the line.

“We’re not very high paid,” she said.

Fields added that the responses from the commissioners are just repeating facts about their health coverage, whereas the issue in question is solely spousal coverage.