March 2012 - Negotiations Update

Your Union Negotiation Team has been fighting for a successor agreement since the summer of 2008.  After the membership rejected two tentative agreements negotiated between the Union and Monroe County, the County has categorically refused to revisit those Tentative Agreements. For instance, Health Insurance for retirees was left fundamentally alone in the first two Tentative Agreements. Since that time, the County has demanded considerable concessions for future Monroe County Retirees. The reason we don’t have an agreement and the reason negotiations have lasted so long is because your Union has been defending your benefits. The COUNTY is the problem, not the Union. The Union has and will continue to offer fair proposals and compromises. Your Union Negotiation Team would love to sit down and enter into reasonable discussions with the County and get an agreement. However, the County continues to demand draconian concessions that offer little in return.

In the near future, you will receive a negotiation questionnaire in the mail. This questionnaire is to help your Union Negotiation Team proceed with negotiations with Monroe County. We will clearly outline some of the County’s current proposals and rational and we would like your direct input on those items. Please mail or FAX the completed questionnaire back to the CSEA Unit 7400 Office, 167 Flanders Street, Rochester N.Y. 14619; no later than 4/15/12,  FAX: (585) 328-3319.  If you don’t receive your questionnaire soon, please call the Unit 7400 Office for a replacement at (585) 328-5250.

Every day Monroe County Employees go to work to provide quality services to the taxpayers of Monroe County; yet, we have worked without a contract since 2008. We have been living under a wage freeze going into our fourth year. The County has taken a hard stand against paying any retroactive pay and if they have their way, we can expect little relief for the years we have labored with no contract.

Now more than ever, Monroe County workers need to stand behind their Union Negotiation Team in our just struggle for a fair contract. We can never let Maggie and her leadership team forget; Monroe County works because we do.