Thursday, December 29, 2011

New York unions sue over retiree health-care change

New York unions sue over retiree health-care change

ALBANY, New York (Reuters) - Seven New York state unions filed sovereign lawsuits on Wednesday seeking to forestall Governor Andrew Cuomo from augmenting a volume that late workers compensate for health care.

The increases enacted this year were unconstitutional since a state has no management to unilaterally lift retirees' health-care costs, a unions said. Each kinship filed a lawsuit in sovereign justice in Albany, they said.

"What a Cuomo administration is perplexing to do is lift a carpet out from underneath state retirees, many of whom designed their retirements formed on when they felt they could means to retire," Kenneth Brynien, boss of a Public Employees Federation, pronounced in a statement.

"These decisions were formed on a pledge and expectancy of what their health word costs would be," he said.

But Cuomo orator Josh Vlasto pronounced in a matter that a state had finished zero illegal.

"The law clearly allows a administration to request a terms of a new agreement to retirees and it has been obvious customary use to do so," Vlasto said.

One of a 7 lawsuits was fast done open on a Albany court's website, and a unions supposing copies of dual additional lawsuits. The remaining lawsuits were not immediately available.

Earlier this year, Cuomo negotiated new contracts with some of a state's largest public worker unions, including PEF and a Civil Service Employees Association.

The stern state bill upheld in Mar forced a unions to concur $450 million in assets in salary and advantages or face adult to 9,800 layoffs.

The word increases for retirees were not partial of a common negotiate agreements that came out of this year's negotiations. Instead, a Cuomo administration unilaterally increasing health-care contributions to 12 percent from 10 percent for particular coverage and to 27 percent from 25 percent for family coverage.

New York law has "consistently famous retirement health word advantages during a grant turn that is bound and vested during a time of retirement to be of contractual standing and a stability requirement of a state," PEF's matter said.

Without that guarantee, retirees could theoretically remove all of their retirement advantages during a state's whim, a censure said.

CSEA orator Stephen Madarasz pronounced several unions filed separate, identical suits, though he expects a justice to connect them.

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner; Editing by Edith Honan and Jan Paschal)


News referensi http://news.yahoo.com/york-unions-sue-over-retiree-health-care-change-232507955.html

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