As Reform Begins in Massachusetts, Union Leaders Call Foul

Brandon Stewart / April 27, 2011

As state budget reforms work their way through legislatures and courts around the country, a new front in the fight has opened up in an unlikely location: Massachusetts. Last night, the Massachusetts House of Representatives voted 111 to 42 to curb the bargaining power of state employees in an effort to control spiraling health care costs.

As Massachusetts House Ways and Means Chair Brian Dempsey (D) explained, the bill was necessary to ensure that essential state programs could continue to receive adequate funding. “The cost of health insurance is going up, and the money we commit every year, it’s unfortunately not going to textbooks. It’s not going to classroom size. Unfortunately, it’s going to a large degree to fund municipal health insurance.”

As Dempsey noted, rising costs are not the fault of unions, but faced with budgetary realities, cuts have to be made. And House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo has suggested that the plan would save $100 million for the state while avoiding layoffs. (more…)