UPDATED July 16 with new dental information

MAPE Negotiations Team's Report #12, Final

At approximately midnight on Friday, June 29, your MAPE Negotiations Team and the governor’s team reached a tentative agreement on a contract proposal for the July 1, 2007-June 30, 2009, biennium. Your team voted to send the tentative agreement to the MAPE Board of Directors with a recommendation to accept the agreement. The Board of Directors will meet Monday, July 9. The Board of Directors will consider the agreement and vote to send it along to you, the members, with a recommendation to accept or reject the agreement. Contract informational meetings are now being scheduled throughout the state. They will be held over the next three weeks through July 26. Ballots to ratify or reject the tentative agreement will be sent out and must be in the MAPE office by 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 3. They are scheduled to be counted approximately Aug. 6. For a listing of informational meetings, please go to the following MAPE website address: www.mape.org/negotiations/neg2006/contractinfojuly2007.asp

A description of each article of the contract will be mailed to full members with voting ballots. However, an overview of the major components is as follows:

1. An across the board wage increase of 3.25 percent will be applied to all employees retroactive to July 1, 2007, and on July 1, 2008. The last time we received a 3.25 percent salary increase was in 1994 following the wage freeze of 0 percent in 1993. In order to find an equal or higher salary supplement, you would have to go back to the 5 percent and 5 percent contract in 1989 and 1990 under Gov. Rudy Perpich.
2. Progression steps will be available to those with satisfactory performance in both years of the contract, 2008 and 2009.
3. The $100 per year employer match for deferred compensation remains unchanged for both years of the contract.
4. One percent of your pretax gross salary will be deposited in your Health Care Savings Plan.
5. Upon retirement, your pretax vacation payout will be deposited in your Health Care Savings Plan.
6. Modest out-of-pocket health costs will occur in the first year of the contract. HOWEVER, THESE WERE HELD AT 2008 LEVELS IN 2009. That means first-dollar deductibles, copays and out of pocket maximums will remain at the 2008 levels in 2009. Although complete information regarding insurance will accompany your ballot, the following is an example of a comparison between the 2007 benefit provisions and the tentative agreement benefit levels for Level 2, where most of our employees are:

 

Benefit Provisions	2007		2008 and 2009
	Level 2		Level 2
	Single/Family		Single/Family
First $ Deductible	$100/$200		$140/$280
Office Copay
1 Health Assessment	$20		$22
2 No Health Assessment	$25		$27
Convenience Clinic Copay	$10		$10
Emergency Room Copay	$50		$75
Per Inpatient Admission Copay	$150		$180
Per Outpatient Surgery Copay	$75		$110
MRI/CT SCAN	N/A		5% after deductible
Coinsurance NOTsubject to Copay	0% (100% coverage after deductible		5% after deductible
Copay for Perscription Drug, 30 days	$15 Formulary, $30 Non-formulary		$10 Tier 1, $16 Tier 2 $36 Tier 3 (*See note below)
Maximum drug out-of-pocket Limit	$650/$1,300		$800/$1,600
Maximum Non-drug out-of pocket Limit	$1,000/$2,000		$1,100/$2,200
Total Maximum out-of-pocket	$1,650/$3,300		$1,900/$3,800

(*Note: 94 percent of the drug copay usage will be in tier 1 or 2. There is an appeal process for "brand" in tier 3. Tier 1 is a $5 drop from formulary in our present contract.)

7. The cost of premiums for those carrying dependent coverage will rise from $117.05 in 2007 to $125.80 in 2008 and $138.89 in 2009. As premium payments are made in pre-tax dollars, this impact will be minimal.

Dental Rates - 2008 Plan Year -- new information (7/16/07)
Monthly Dental Premiums
		State Dental Plan						HealthPartners Dental
2007		Employee		Dependent		Family		Employee		Dependent		Family
Premium		$ 26.02		$ 50.96		$ 76.98		$ 26.64		$ 52.16		$ 78.80
Full Employer Contribution		$ 21.02		$ 25.48		$ 46.50		$ 21.64		$ 25.48		$ 47.12
Employee Contribution		$ 5.00		$ 25.48		$ 30.48		$ 5.00		$ 26.68		$ 31.68
		State Dental Plan						HealthPartners Dental
2008		Employee		Dependent		Family		Employee		Dependent		Family
Premium		$ 26.02		$ 50.96		$ 76.98		$ 26.90		$ 52.70		$ 79.60
Full Employer Contribution		$ 21.02		$ 25.48		$ 46.50		$ 21.90		$ 25.48		$ 47.38
Employee Contribution		$ 5.00		$ 25.48		$ 30.48		$ 5.00		$ 27.22		$ 32.22
		State Dental Plan						HealthPartners Dental
Change 2007 - 2008		Employee		Dependent		Family		Employee		Dependent		Family
Premium		$ -		$ -		$ -		$ 0.26		$ 0.54		$ 0.80
Full Employer Contribution		$ -		$ -		$ -		$ 0.26		$ -		$ 0.26
Employee Contribution		$ -		$ -		$ -		$ -		$ 0.54		$ 0.54
The rates presented above may require slight adjustment to accommodate the various contribution formulas that must be
applied by the billing system. Any rate adjustments required will not materially affect the premium rates presented above.

Although insurance costs increase in the first year of the contract, they are below the national average. We believe that holding the line on insurance in the second year of the contract represents a significant success. In a worse case scenario, combined out-of-pocket maximums only rise by the combined amount of $250/$500 in the first year of the contract and remain the same in the second year of the contract.

Your team held insurance increases to the smallest possible increase (look at the governor’s opening proposal). It held the line on insurance in the second year of the contract. It held the line on keeping progression increases in BOTH years of the contract. It demanded wage recognition of our hard work and our contributions we make to the quality of life in Minnesota that everyone enjoys by achieving across-the-board wage increases of 3.25 percent in both years of the contract, the largest increase in 17 years.

The 3 percent salary supplement authorized by a labor-friendly Legislature certainly contributed to our success. REMEMBER, THIS 3 PERCENT SALARY SUPPLEMENT HAD TO PAY FOR WAGES, INSURANCE AND PROGRESSION STEP INCREASES. Modest increases in insurance costs, a 3.25 percent wage increase in both years of the contract and maintaining progression step increases in both years of the contract represent a clear victory. A victory that needs to be built upon.

Why did we achieve these gains? Why were we able to minimize insurance costs to amounts below the national average? Why were we able to hold the line on the second year of insurance, progression increases and get the largest across the board wage increase in 17 years? Because of the actions that you, our members, have taken over the past two years. YOU helped elect labor friendly legislators to the state House of Representatives and the Senate last November. YOU helped to increase our membership right up through push week and nobody looks more closely at our membership numbers than the governor’s team. YOU repeatedly and eloquently made the case that we are one of the smallest per capita and most productive public employee work forces in the United States. YOU visited, telephoned and wrote letters to your legislators and the governor again and again. YOU made them acknowledge that the efforts you put forth every day across this state MAKE the quality of life we all enjoy.

YOU have a lot to be proud of. Take a moment, talk to your coworkers and acknowledge the victory that this contract represents. Enjoy the security it provides for your families for the next two years. Then, roll up your sleeves, make us stronger for the next negotiations by signing up new employees as full members, staying engaged and electing legislators who support us in providing world-class public services to the people of Minnesota.