ALBANY — CSEA New York State Thruway Authority retirees are fighting back against their former employer’s move to raise their health insurance costs.
On March 7, our union filed in New York State Supreme Court a class action lawsuit against the Thruway Authority for unilaterally increasing health care costs on approximately 1,500 retirees.
In December, Thruway Authority officials informed retirees that effective April 1, 2016, they would have to pay 6 percent more in personal contributions to their health care premiums.
That action fails to honor obligations to retirees covered by contracts between CSEA and the Thruway.
“It’s another in a continuing series of bad decisions and mismanagement of the New York State Thruway Authority that have undermined their credibility and demoralized the work force,” said CSEA President Danny Donohue. “It says a lot about the misplaced priorities of the authority management that they can be lining up for a huge state bailout while at the same time putting the squeeze on retirees who devoted their careers to state service.”
“Retirees have earned the right to retire with the health insurance benefits they were promised during their years of service at the Thruway Authority,” said CSEA Thruway Authority Local President Karen Wilson.
“Through their callous actions, the Thruway has created chaos and confusion for an already vulnerable group of people,” said CSEA Capital Region President Ron Briggs.
John Francisco, who had worked for the Thruway Authority for 31 years before retiring in 2004, is among the CSEA retirees affected by the increase.
“We may only be talking about 6 percent now, but I’m concerned about any future increases,” he told a local radio program. “My belief is that (the Thruway Authority) will try to raise it again in the future. This also affects people who retired about 25 years ago and didn’t have higher pensions to start with, so this is a sizable increase for them.”
The action comes amid protracted negotiations on a contract for the 500 CSEA-represented Thruway employees working in technical, professional and supervisory titles across the state. The previous agreement expired June 30, 2011.
CSEA also has a pending federal lawsuit against the Thruway Authority for threatening and then laying off union-represented employees while sparing all management personnel. That lawsuit involves 85 CSEA members who were either laid off, forced into early retirement, relocated or bumped. The discovery phase of that lawsuit, filed in 2013, recently concluded.
— Therese Assalian
