Bloomberg Administration To Negotiate 300,000 Municipal Workers' Health Care Costs

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration on Tuesday announced that it aims to negotiate savings for the health care coverage of about 300,000 municipal workers after reaching a tentative contract with the teachers' union late Monday, the New York Times reports. The teachers' contract -- which includes a 7.1% pay increase over two years but does not include specifics on health benefits -- is intended to serve as a base for other municipal union contracts. Bloomberg in the past has said he would like to have municipal workers begin to pay part of their health care premiums. City Labor Commissioner James Hanley said he hoped to begin negotiating health coverage with the Municipal Labor Committee soon with the goal of reducing costs. He added that Randi Wengarten, president of the Union Federation of Teachers and chair of the labor committee, promised to bargain on health coverage. Bloomberg said, "Randi has said a number of times she has a commitment to try to see if the city can't provide better benefits more economically." Weingarten said, "The commitment I made on health is the commitment that is always made on health. As the chair of the MLC, we will always meet with the city to engage in ways to find affordable, quality health care. There's no commitment beyond that" (Greenhouse/Chan, New York Times, 11/8).

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