Labor
After huddling up in North Providence for a couple of hours this afternoon and listening to an explanation by a couple of HR people from the state of certain nuances of the proposal, the ProJo reports that The leaders of the largest state employees union reversed course Friday afternoon and agreed to let their members…
Council 94 now says they’ll accept the Governor’s proposal if he agrees to remove the “random job reassignment” provisions. “We will move this proposal to an immediate vote of our full membership as soon as the Governor removes the one provision that has nothing to do with the state’s budget.” “Council 94 is willing to…
The ProJo reports on the decision by Council 94 to reject Governor Carcieri’s cost-saving deal, while other unions approved it. The Journal quotes Council 94’s acting executive director Joseph Peckham as saying the 11 to 7 (or 6?) vote as “not even close.” Ooookay. Peckham said he, Downey and Council 94 vice president Jonathan Braddock…
Just out from the governor’s office: Today, Governor Donald L. Carcieri and several state employee labor unions, including the RI Alliance of Social Service Employees (Local 580), RI Laborers’ District Council Locals 808 and 1033 (LIUNA), the RI Parole and Probation Associates (RIPPA), and the RI Employment Security Alliance (Local 401 SEIU), announced that a…
Dan Yorke has been talking about the East Providence school administration’s push for a pay-for-performance system for teachers, and one teacher from the district called in from her house in Barrington to explain that that sort of pay schedule doesn’t work in her profession. Teaching is cooperative, you see, meaning that unlike other professions (apparently)…
I share Julia Steiny’s aversion to teacher “bumping,” of course, but her weekend column brings out the downright philosophical difference that exists in public education, as distinct from private-sector work: A single regulation from the state, effective the moment each contract expires, would allow schools to get the best teachers they can, when vacancies occur.…
This past weekend’s episode of Newsmakers, with AFL-CIO RI President George Nee, is worth a watch: Nee is among the more reasonable-sounding of the labor representatives, but that presentation only emphasizes the absence of space between how he responds to questions and how any given Democrat partisan would answer them. Sure, he’s the guy who…
As I prepare for the first of a bunch of working Saturdays undertaken out of dire financial need, I bring the words of RI School for the Deaf Occupational Therapist Meg Denton with me to ponder: Today I was determined to be a “nonessential” state employee. I was told that I am required to accept…
Steve Peoples of the Projo identifies the main issue that, so far, has prevented the Carcieri administration and state employees labor unions from finalizing an agreement on a pay reduction with some deferred compensation for state employees, in order to avoid either shutdown days of layoffs…The potential deal-breaker appears to be Carcieri’s bid for more…
My latest video blog is about open negotiations, drawing on material from Tiverton, but applicable elsewhere. I’d be especially interested in feedback on this one, inasmuch as I tried some new tricks (in an effort to throw myself at the learning curve) and am still trying to get a sense of appropriate content for the…
