Union workers win record $30M back pay

[Omaha Steve]

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20100516union_workers_win_record_30m_back_pay/

By Renee Dudley Sunday, May 16, 2010

In what is being called the costliest settlement of its type in state history, the financially strapped Trial Court system must shell out $30 million in back wages to thousands of unionized clerical workers, the Herald has learned.

In a decision reached May 7, an arbitrator ruled that the Trial Court broke its contract with Office and Professional Employees International Union, Local 6, by refusing to pay the negotiated 3 percent pay raises since 2007.

“We have members that have suffered foreclosures and bankruptcy waiting for their raises,” said Robert S. Manning, general counsel for Local 6. “It is sadly ironic that court workers have had to bring a case to force the judicial system to obey the contract signed by its own chief justice.”

Officials from the Trial Court said they were unable to pay the negotiated raises because of a lack of funding from the state. Chief Justice for Administration and Management Robert A. Mulligan declined comment pending a meeting with union officials.

In addition to the $30 million in back pay, the Trial Court must find $17 million in unfunded raises for the union employees for the next budget year, starting in July, said Superior Court Justice Peter W. Agnes Jr., president of the Massachusetts Judges Conference.

FULL story at link.