BCFPE will hold a general membership meeting to call for a vote on whether the Union should accept the county's proposed changes in worker retirement terms and benefits. At a meeting with members of the Baltimore County Council recently, county officials issued a firm commitment to study the possibility of providing salary increases for the approximately 800 workers who previously were excluded from county plans to increase workers' salaries.
Last week, in a mediated work session with county representatives, BCFPE refused to accept the county's proposal to require county employees who do not have 30 years of service to work an additional five years before they can receive full retirement benefits. Because BCFPE would not accept the county's proposal, the county threatened to withhold wage and Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) increases for some employees in the county's proposed budget for next year.
In order to protect members' rights to COLA and other wage adjustments, the Union decided to bring the matter to members for a vote.
"Make no mistake," BCFPE President Jim Miller said, "we still do not accept, nor do we endorse, the county's proposal. Workers have paid into and have made life plans based on a retirement plan that both they and the county agreed to. Now, the county wants to change the rules in the middle of the game. Worst of all is the fact that some county employees are exempt from these changes. Some are rewarded and others are punished by being required to work an additional five years."
The date and location of the Union's vote on the county's proposal is to be announced. (The location of the meeting, originally announced in an e-mail distributed April 12 is no longer available.) Meanwhile, the Union is encouraging Pay Schedule I workers to attend the April 16th County Council meeting to voice their opposition to the county's retirement change proposal. (See "Union Calls Workers to County Council Meeting" on this website.)