MGEC has been approached by MMB with two Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) seeking our agreement. The first MOU is about Sick and Safe Time and the second concerns a potential Federal government shutdown.
The Sick and Safe Time MOU brings into alignment gaps in the current contract with the Sick and Safe Time law passed this last session. As you may have heard, the legislature greatly expanded access to paid time off for all public and private employees in the state, guaranteeing time off for illnesses for employees and their families. Because MGEC members already have paid sick time, there are no changes for regular MGEC employees; the changes expand sick time for “intermittent” and “emergency” employees. We have no issues with this MOU and plan to sign it.
The MOU for a potential federal government shutdown, however, could potentially affect a significant number of MGEC people. This is not to be confused with a state shutdown – legislation was recently passed to make sure state employees are paid in that scenario. But this is different and hasn’t been addressed legislatively. While Federal employees receive backpay for Federal shutdowns, and state employees are now assured backpay thanks to legislative action, state workers who are federally funded are left in a void that neither federal nor state legislative bodies have addressed.
Approximately 60 MGEC-represented people are federally funded, and those revenue streams could be interrupted during a shutdown. While the state functions as a pass-through for those funds, a shutdown could cause the state to have interrupted funding to pay employees. MGEC strongly feels that, especially in the time of budget surpluses, the state owes its workers non-interrupted pay irrespective of the fund source. It isn’t the fault of an employee that Congress can’t maintain funding.
The “shutdown” MOU would allow affected employees to use their vacation time to backpay themselves, and only when the shutdown is over. We are in the process of working with other unions to build a coalition to do better. We find this to be highly problematic because it offers no ability to be made whole by the employer – employees are made whole by using their own benefits.
Additionally, we feel that signing this MOU would diminish our ability to fight for affected members in arbitration. We would be ceding some of the protections currently in our contract without equivalent benefits. For this reason, MGEC’s board has decided to continue our practice of NOT signing this MOU.