On Friday, October 21, the AFSCME Council 3 bargaining team, made up of member leaders from around the state, met with management to begin bargaining wage increases for next year. Management’s side was led by DBM and agency representatives.
Every 3 years, we bargain the entire contract, but most years we are able to “reopen” our agreement to bargain for wages.
In this short bargaining session, we did not establish ground rules, but things went relatively smoothly.
Here are some highlights:
- We gave a comprehensive wage proposal that demanded 9% in COLA, 3 step increases, and other pay increases to level the playing field for our members.
- Management simultaneously offered 1 step in addition to our already bargained 2% COLA that goes into effect July 1, 2023.
- Regarding agency ASRs, we demanded all job classifications receive an ASR due to the immense staffing shortages statewide. We are currently waiting to see DBM’s proposed list. We refused to take their bait to play favorites and propose a list first. We reiterated that there are many titles across multiple agencies that need ASRs, but many agencies are not putting in these ASRs because the titles are not unique to their agencies.
- DBM stated that they would get us a list of pin abolishments dating back to 2015. They claimed that they cannot get us any more data from further back because of data issues. Regardless, this is still an important step towards seeing the extent of understaffing statewide coupled with the current vacancy numbers.
- Regarding the 4.5% raise for all state employees effective November 1, 2022, Governor Hogan refused to release the retroactive pay for this raise going back to July. As a result, this money is unfortunately still sitting in a separate fund. We will pressure the next Governor to release these retroactive funds that we earned and deserve.
Moving forward, we have three additional dates set aside for bargaining:
- Friday, November 4
- Wednesday, November 16
- Wednesday, November 30
Going into this year’s bargaining for wage increases, it’s clear that management has felt the impact of our strength and our organizing. We have already won 16% in negotiations so far and have already gotten the State to offer another step. We have put together a comprehensive proposal that includes COLAs to make sure our pay outpaces inflation as well as 3 additional steps and more.
With additional bargaining sessions lined up, let’s keep pushing and fighting to win the pay, benefits, and workplace improvements we deserve!
If you are not an AFSCME member, you can become part of our movement here.
NOTE: Access to bargaining information is limited to bargaining unit employees (units A, B, C, D, F, and H). Be aware that details of proposals, counterproposals, and related discussions in closed collective bargaining sessions are private and confidential communications protected from unilateral public disclosure during collective bargaining negotiations under SPP § 3-501(e). Such details should not be made public while collective bargaining negotiations are taking place. The above materials in this post include details and therefore should not be circulated to the public or publicly.