Friday,August16,2019
State employees facinganother monthwithout pay raises,bonuses
Withevery passingday withoutabudgetinplace its morelikely thatstate employees andretirees willreceiveanother paycheck withoutanincreasein pay
Gov Roy Cooper vetoedthelegislatures budgetonJune28becauseitdidnot includeMedicaidexpansion HouseDemocrats feelanobligationto standwith their governor andarerefusingtooverridethis veto
Cooper stillinsists thatany budgetcontainMedicaidexpansion Legislative leaders haveofferedtoreturnfor aspecialsessiontoconsider Medicaid expansionbutCooper has notaccepted leavingstateemployees andretirees uncertainoftheir financialfuture
TheNews & Observer publishedastory Thursday detailingthecostto taxpayers ofthebudgetstalemate Butthestory failedtomentionthefolks with themostatstakeinthis impasse–stateemployees andretirees whoarefacing another monthwithoutapay raiseor bonus
Theaveragestateemployeeis losingabout$97eachmonththatthebudget isntpassed
Thelonger thestalematedrags on themorelikely itbecomes thatthe legislaturewillleavetownwithoutanew budgetatall–meaningnoraises or bonuses Thatalsomeans nobonus vacationdays much-neededcorrectional
officer supplements community collegeandUNC System employeeraises or any oftheother parts ofthebudgetthatbenefitstateemployees andretirees
SEANC does nothaveapositiononMedicaidexpansion anditis unacceptable for your pay raises tobeusedas abargainingchipinthis negotiation Tellyour legislators tooverridethegovernors vetoandpass thebudgettoendthis standoff
Friday August23 2019
Nopay raises inAugust paychecks
Stateemployeesandretireeswill seenoincreasesintheirpaychecksfor thesecondmonthnextweekbecauseofthecontinuedstatebudget stalemate
Withnoendinsight,legislativeleadersproposedabill thisweektoreturn morethan$600millioninsurplusrevenuetotaxpayersasa fall refund payment Individualswouldgetupto$125,andthosewhofiledjointly wouldget$250
Thelegislaturealsoturnedthisweektopassingpartsofitsbudgetina piecemeal approach,andrumorhasitthatstateemployeepayraisesmay comeupasearlyasnextweek.SEANC continuestopushforpayraises forall stateemployees,includinganadditional $50millionforpayraises attheUNC System
Weneedyoutostandupforyourraisesaswell Tell yourlegislatorsto supportoverridingthebudgetvetobyclickingbelow
State Health Plan announces open enrollment period
TheStateHealthPlanannouncedthisweekthatitwill holdanopen enrollmentperiodfor2020fromNov 2-19
Planmemberswill haveaccesstotheSAME broad,statewidenetwork theyhavetoday whichistheBlueOptionsnetworkadministeredbyBlue CrossNC Thisincludesall NorthCarolinahospitals. Also,becauseofthesuccessoftheClearPricingProject,thisnetwork will now includeevenmoreprovidersthataresupportiveoftransparent andlowerpricing
Moredetailsonopenenrollmentwill beannouncedastheperiod approaches.
Friday August30 2019
Legislature passes largest two-year pay raise ina decade
Thelegislaturepassedbyunanimousvotethisweekpayraisesformost stateemployeesaspartofa mini budgets”workaroundtopushthrough importantpartsofthebudget sinceacompromiseisunlikely
Moststateemployeeswill receivea5%payincreaseoverthenexttwo years–25%ineachyear–aspartofthelargesttwo-yearraiseina decade Thisincludesall employeeswhoworkforastateagency In additiontothepayraise correctional employeesatfacilitieswithhigh vacancyrateswill receiveasupplementthankstoabill passedthis week.
Gov RoyCooperhasyettosignanyofthepayraisebills.Theywill not takeeffectuntil heeithersignsthemorletsthempassintolaw withouthis signaturebynotvetoingthemwithin10days.Membersshouldclickhere toemail Coopertotell himyouneedaraiseandheshouldsignthebills!
IfCooperdoesnotvetothebills,theraiseswill beretroactivetoJulyand employeesshouldseeincreasesintheirSeptemberpaychecks. More mini budgets”areexpectedafterthelegislaturetakesaweekoff Chiefamongthesebillswill beaplanforraisesfornon-certifiedschool personnel UNC Systemandcommunitycollegeemployeesandretirees. SEANC continuestoworktoensurethattheseemployeesinthe educationsystemgettheraisestheydeserve SEANC alsocontinuesto lobbyfora2%bonusforretirees.
