SEA rejects fact-finder report

In a prepared statement issued on Friday, Brian Mitchell, field representative of the State Employees Association of New Hampshire (SEA), indicated that municipal employees have rejected a fact-finder's endorsement of the city's health insurance proposal, leaving negotiations as an impasse.

The SEA represents about 30 city employees at the Department of Public Works, Parks and Recreation Department and City Hall.

The SEA objected to the city's proposal that all employees contribute five percent to the cost of health insurance premiums and accept a modified prescription medication benefit featuring a $10 co-pay for generic drugs, $20 for preferred drugs and $30 for brand name drugs. The modified plan would replace the current plan, which includes a mail-in option that provides a 90-day supply of any medication for $1.

The SEA demonstrated that with the annual average 2.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment offered by the city, the increased contribution to the cost of health insurance would leave some employees out of pocket. Lee Thompson, general foreman at the DPW, said that the fact-finder, Marilyn Zuckerman, "admitted that the costs would be a hardship. Then in the same paragraph she called the city's proposals reasonable and said we should accept them."

Thompson also called attention to the contract negotiated between the city and the Laconia Education Association, which represents the teachers, stressing that it retained the current health insurance benefits. "Why they think a benefit is okay for one group but not for another escapes me," he said.

"The message," said Bob Cunningham, who heads the local union, "is that we are not valued and neither are the services we provide to the citizens of Laconia."

Mitchell said the union intends to return to negotiations with the city with the assistance of a neutral mediator. The City Council will consider the fact-finder's report when it meets Monday night.

The city's contract negotiations with the Laconia Professional Firefighters (LPF) and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees are also at an impasse. Earlier this year the council approved a contract with the Laconia Police Officers Association, which included the cost-of living adjustment and health insurance program that separate fact-finders recommended to the SEA and the LPF.