The St. Paul teachers union has asked St. Paul Public Schools to join it in mediation over a health insurance dispute that could cost the district $4 million.
If school district leaders refuse, the dispute appears headed to court as the new school year approaches.
St. Paul Federation of Educators President Nick Faber said he wants the matter resolved soon “so we can focus on doing school.”
His members and those from Teamsters Local 320 voted in spring to leave the district’s HealthPartners plan on Jan. 1 for the state-run Public Employees Insurance Program (PEIP), which promises lower premiums.
Their exit, however, would trigger a $4 million early termination fee under the terms of the district’s HealthPartners two-year contract.
Besides the fee, some 1,500 employees who are not teachers or teachers aides can expect 22 percent premium increases when their 4,500 colleagues leave the plan, district leaders have said.
Faber last week offered to wait until 2021 to leave for PEIP, but only if the school district would increase its contributions to his members’ health plans.
On Friday, Superintendent Joe Gothard refused and urged the unions to stick with HealthPartners through 2021, when the contract expires, anyway. He threatened to sue if the unionized teachers leave HealthPartners before then.
“There is a very simple resolution available to move past this dispute. Everyone involved should just keep their promises,” Gothard and school board Chairwoman Zuki Ellis wrote.
Faber said he was disappointed the district took such a hard line with their offered compromise.
“We expected more dialogue,” he said.
DELAYED MOVE?
The district, citing vague language in the relevant statute, also refused to abide by the teachers’ timeline. Instead of January, the district said Friday it would not allow the teachers to change plans until December 2020, one month before the HealthPartners contract runs out.
The teachers union on Wednesday said such a delay would violate “the plain language” of the statute that authorizes public unions to change health plans. They said they’d pursue legal options to enforce that language if they can’t mediate the dispute.
WHO KNEW?
When union members voted to leave HealthPartners, they were unaware that doing so would cost the school district money, according to Faber.
“None of us knew” about the early termination fee, he said.
Gothard on Friday chided the unions for not reviewing the contract before voting.
Faber in turn criticized the district for failing to warn union members. He said 47 days passed between the time the unions notified the district that they were thinking about leaving HealthPartners and when the district posted information on its website about the move’s consequences.
By then, Faber said, voting already was underway.
Would the result have been different had all members known about the penalty?
“I think it’s the wrong question,” Faber said.
Will the unions hold another vote?
“No,” Faber said. “We met with leaders tonight. I think our members are really clear they want to move into PEIP.”
The question, he said, is when.
