THE
State Employees Association of North Carolina, SEIU Local 2008 P.O. Drawer 27727, Raleigh, NC • www.seanc.org 800-222-2758 • 919-833-6436 • Circulation 55,000
September 2012
• Vol. 30, Issue 9
Victories Highlight SEANC’s Influence Working Families, Public Services and Safety Protected by
Toni Davis
SEANC Communications Director
After hard work during this legislative session, the association scored numerous victories on behalf of public services and the people who provide them. Six of these victories are noted as achieved 2011 Policy Platform Objectives.
Pay Raise Secured
After an initial House budget proposal contained no pay raise, SEANC secured a 1.2-percent pay raise in the final budget.
Bonus Leave Victory
SEANC won five days bonus vacation leave for state employees in FY 2012-2013.
Retiree COLA Achieved
After an initial House budget contained no cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for retirees, SEANC secured a 1-percent increase in the final budget.
State Health Plan (SHP) Whistleblowers Protected
Legislation was enacted prohibiting retaliation by any employer against an employee who reports SHP waste, fraud or misappropriation of funds.
Worker Privacy Preserved
SEANC protected state workers’ personnel files, including performance evaluations, from being made public.
Jobs Saved
SEANC worked with House and Senate leaders to stop a proposal to privatize over 2,000 inmate health care jobs in the Department of Public Safety (DPS) just weeks before the bid was to be awarded and state employee jobs lost. There was no time to wait for a budget bill to fix this, so SEANC met with legislative leaders and DPS was ordered not to privatize these jobs in the first significant appropriations bill to go through the chamber (SB 797) in the 2012 legislative session.
Privatization Blocked
The N.C. Zoological Park was slated for privatization this year. SEANC lobbyists worked to make sure employees at the zoo would not be forgotten in this debate, particularly those with significant state service. At the end of the day, legislative leaders backed off plans to privatize the zoo.
Career Growth Maintained The legislative practice of granting the career growth component as a bonus for employees who are at the top of their salary range continued.
Worker Rights Maintained
Despite a multi-year lobbying effort from the university system to remove 22,000 university employees from the State Personnel Act and their rights under it, SEANC succeeded in holding back that effort once again and protected the workers.
Retirement Fully Funded For the second year in a row, SEANC fought to make sure the retirement system was fully funded. This year the state contributed 8.33 percent.
Vacation Accrual Rate Increased SEANC successfully lobbied the Office of State Personnel for an increase in the vacation accrual rate for state employees.
tdavis@seanc.org