Your DOC bargaining committee held a three-day bargaining session with the State on July 19-21 and on August 2 with a mediator. In those sessions, we exchanged economic proposals and discussed several language issues in your contract.

We were able to reach tentative agreement on several articles, but we are still not close to a final agreement that we can recommend to the membership for ratification.

We were able to make progress on the important issue of sick leave, however.

For weeks, the State was proposing a punitive sick leave proposal. We were able to defeat that thanks to a powerful presentation by several bargaining team members from MCC. Members explained how to use exiting tools to address sick leave in a way that is not punitive to those using their leave appropriately. 

The misuse of  sick leave is harmful to our membership, and we understand the Department’s desire to address it. But the State already has the ability to address this problem. We are not interested in a system that punishes the masses to deal with a few. Thanks to the hard work of your bargaining committee, we were able to push back this terrible proposal.

There will be another session with the mediator on August 12. After that session, our bargaining team will be holding meetings around the state to update you on negotiations.

If necessary, we have an interest arbitration hearing tentatively scheduled for August 29-Sept. 2.