Union vote set for nearly 2,000 state workers

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Nearly 2,000 state employees, including probation and parole officers and unemployment caseworkers, will get to vote next month on whether to join a union.

The election, agreed upon Wednesday, will be the first since Gov. Bob Holden expanded union powers this summer through an executive order authorizing collective bargaining.

The Service Employees International Union Local 2000 is seeking to represent employees in the Department of Corrections and the divisions of Employment Security and Workforce Development.

Gearing up Wednesday for its election campaign, the organization outlined a union-run health insurance proposal that it said would save money for both employees and the state.

During a meeting later Wednesday, the state Board of Mediation and representatives of the union and state agreed upon an election running Nov. 14 through Nov. 30.

The mail-in ballots are to be counted Dec. 3 in Jefferson City. It takes a majority of those voting to authorize union representation.

Ballots will be sent to about 1,240 probation and parole officers, 355 Employment Security workers and 335 Workforce Development employees, the union said.

Workers in the employment and workforce divisions will have the choice of joining the same bargaining unit as the corrections officers or forming a separate unit.

Employees in the three agencies previously were represented by Service Employees International Union Local 50. But that local dropped its representation after Holden's order so that the union could reorganize.

The Service Employees International Union now also is seeking to represent some state nurses, doctors and therapists through a separate bargaining unit. No election has been set for that group.

Unions have long had the ability to represent state workers but previously had no power to enter into binding negotiations with administrators.

Holden's June 29 order grants collective bargaining rights to nearly 30,000 of the state's 65,000 employees and allows many state boards and commissions to grant similar rights to other employees.

The order authorizes binding arbitration to settle some disputes and could allow negotiating fees to be charged even to employees who do not join unions.

State employees still cannot strike, and the Legislature retains the final say on any decisions requiring appropriations or changes to the law.

The Service Employees International Union said its health insurance proposal could be added as an option to the Missouri Consolidated Health Care Plan that covers state workers. But it would only be available to those in a collective bargaining unit.

State employee insurance premiums are scheduled to rise in January.

Daniel Spring, a probation and parole officer in St. Louis, said monthly premiums for himself and his wife are to rise to $262 from their current $172.

"I'm going to have to leave, I'm going to have to quit because I can't afford it," Spring said at a union news conference about the health insurance plan.

Union organizer Emily Stewart said the health plan and better staffing ratios are two of the issues the union would pursue if it wins the November election.

"We've been working for several months with people to try to figure out real solutions for the problems they raise," she said. "A lot of our campaign is focusing with different groups on problem-solving measures."