Columbus Dispatch...
If union deal sets tone, raises may cost Ohio taxpayers $191 million 
November 19, 2011 

State employees won’t get a base-pay raise under a proposed contract extension. But that doesn’t mean their pay won’t rise. 

In fact, on average, state employees will see an estimated $3,298 annual increase, before taxes, from the restoration of step pay and longevity pay. Both are included in a tentative agreement on a new three-year contract between the state and the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association. With 34,000 members, it is the largest state employee union. 

Those two pay categories — which were eliminated in two of three years of the current contract — would cost the state an estimated $191 million if all state workers get the same deal offered to the OCSEA. The numbers were calculated this year by the Ohio Department of Administrative Services during the debate over Senate Bill 5, the collective-bargaining measure overturned by voters last week. 

Negotiators for the union and Gov. John Kasich’s administration agreed to a surprise contract extension on Wednesday at their first bargaining session. The deal must be ratified by union members and approved by the state Controlling Board, a bipartisan legislative panel that considers large expenditures. 

The agreement also would eliminate 10 mandatory, unpaid furlough days that were part of the OCSEA agreement that expires Feb. 29 next year. And it would retain existing health-care benefits; 15 percent of the premiums are paid by the employee. 

Step pay raises, sometimes known as “in-grade” pay, are built into state contracts, as well as agreements with many teachers and local employees. They are small increases given to employees based on experience and educational attainment. 

Longevity pay is tacked onto salaries of long-term state employees. 

Kasich had little to say about the contract when questioned by reporters yesterday. He called it a “fair deal for employees and for the taxpayers of the state.” He declined to answer a question about whether the state could afford the contract. 

He said the contract was proof that “we’re always willing to listen.” 

“I’ll meet with any of the labor unions,” said Kasich, whose standing with public employees appears to be on the shakiest of grounds following his months-long advocacy for Senate Bill 5. “They would be surprised at how comfortable I am with them.” 

The potential impact of the deal is unclear regarding other unions that have state contracts. Those include Service Employees International Union, the Fraternal Order of Police and a small unit of the Ohio Education Association. 

In past years, contracts with other unions followed the same basic pattern set by the deal with the Civil Service Employees union, which represents the bulk of the state’s 55,000 workers. 

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