State and CSEA approve 5-year contract with 2% annual raises
The state and CSEA have reached a five-year agreement that gives 60,000 state employees 2 percent annual raises.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued this statement, praising the agreement:
“This contract is a fair deal for New York and for the more than 60,000 hardworking public servants that are the backbone of state government and enable it to work for New Yorkers. I thank CSEA’s leadership for negotiating in good faith and I am proud this agreement was overwhelmingly ratified by their membership and that I was able to sign legislation enacting it into law. This agreement represents another important step in our efforts to maintain New York’s outstanding workforce, and I look forward to continuing to work together to move this state forward.”
Each of CSEA’s four bargaining units (Administrative, Institutional, Operational and Division of Military and Naval Affairs) individually approved the agreement.
“CSEA’s negotiating team worked tirelessly to secure a well-rounded agreement that provides hard-earned cost-of-living increases while keeping health insurance expenses reasonable for working families,” said CSEA President Danny Donohue. “This contract is the product of members negotiating as a team for what is fair, and it recognizes the exceptional value of our members’ innumerable contributions across the state. Our dedicated public-sector employees are the often-unrecognized backbone of our communities.”
The five-year agreement includes the following provisions:
- Yearly 2 percent wage increases (with retroactive pay)
- Improvements to the longevity payment structure
- Modest increases in health insurance co-payments
- Double-time overtime pay in the Offices of Mental Health and People with Developmental Disabilities to control the excessive mandated overtime rampant in that sector
