State workers could negotiate less under proposal

LANSING – Unionized state employees would no longer be able to negotiate the way staff are reassigned after layoffs, how overtime is doled out or how performance bonuses are issued under a slate of recently proposed rules changes. 

Those issues, currently dictated over hundreds of pages in the state's 10 employee union contracts, "require significant resources to document compliance and can result in significant monetary penalties if mistakes are found," State Personnel Director Jan Winters said in a memo to unions and state managers last week announcing the proposed changes.  

She asked for amendments to civil service rules to prohibit negotiations on those subjects, giving the administration more control in staff assignments and performance pay. That could save the state money by simplifying oversight, Winters said in her memo. 

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Nearly 35,000 of the roughly 50,000 state government employees are covered by union contracts.  

Union officials this week said they are still reviewing the numerous proposed changes to gauge their specific impact. But they broadly condemned the effort to limit what can be decided at the negotiating table. 

"Obviously, we are always concerned when there is a proposal to pull back on collective bargaining rights," Nick Ciaramitaro, legislative director for the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees Council 25, said Monday. "We believe collective bargaining rights are a benefit to both the employer and the employee by allowing good labor relations." 

Ken Moore, president of the Michigan State Employees Association, said his members had given up pay and benefits in the past to negotiate seniority issues into their contract, and the state is now moving to take those away.

"They certainly aren't labor-friendly," Moore said. "They will take away from collective bargaining rights that we currently enjoy. It's going to have a catastrophic affect on numerous articles of our contracts."

The Michigan Civil Service Commission, a board of four gubernatorial appointees who oversee the government workforce, is accepting public comment on the proposed changes through Sept. 6. The soonest commissioners could vote on the changes is at their next public meeting on Sept. 20 in Lansing.  

If approved, most of the changes would not take effect until current contracts expire on Jan. 1, 2019. 

The current commission is made up of three appointees from Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and one from his Democratic predecessor, Jennifer Granholm.  

Snyder's last appointee, former Republican state House speaker Jase Bolger, made waves shortly after his term began early this year when he said the commission should explore whether state government needs unions at all. 

Winters' proposed changes would be the most significant reforms to state employee bargaining rights since right-to-work legislation was passed in 2012. Those laws allow employees to opt out of the unions who negotiate on their behalf without paying so-called "fair-share fees." About 85% of state workers covered by a union contract were dues-paying union members as of last fall, compared to 92% before right-to-work was enacted.  

State government is one of Greater Lansing's biggest employers, with more than 14,000 employees living and working in Ingham, Eaton and Clinton counties.  

Contact Justin A. Hinkley at (517) 377-1195 or jhinkley@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinHinkley. Sign up for his email newsletter, SoM Weekly, at on.lsj.com/somsignup.

Comment on the proposal

The Civil Service Commission is accepting comment on its proposed rules changes until Sept. 6. Comments can be sent to MCSC-OGC@mi.gov or the Office of the General Counsel, Michigan Civil Service Commission, P.O. Box 30002, Lansing, Mich., 48909.

The commission is scheduled to meet Sept. 20 in Lansing.