Three unions at Temple University recently secured an unprecedented agreement from the administration to extend healthcare benefits to cover members' domestic partners -- including same-sex partners.

The breakthrough was the united effort of three campus unions -- the Temple University Graduate Students Association/AFT (TUGSA), the Temple Association of University Professors/AFT (TAUP), and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Local 1723.  The coalition was formed shortly after the university reneged on a contractual obligation that would have allowed union members to enroll their opposite-sex domestic partners in the university’s healthcare program.

The issue of same-sex domestic partner coverage came into the mix during the joint efforts to enforce the contract provision.

"We met with the other organizations to force the university to follow the contract and in the end, not only was the contract enforced but the coverage was extended to same-sex domestic partners," says April Logan, co-president of TUGSA.

The agreement has been met with strong opposition from the Republican-dominated state Legislature. 

"Some legislators have threatened to try to prevent Temple from receiving a single dollar from the Legislature because of this," says TAUP president William Cutler.  "They want to block the $173 million" the Legislature appropriated for Temple. 

No state or university money, however is being used to fund the new coverage.  Employees who want to gain benefits for their domestic partners must pay the premium.  To be eligible for the coverage, employees must also provide evidence of partnership, such as legal responsibility for one another in the case of same-sex partners or a common law spousal relationship for opposite-sex domestic partners. 

"Healthcare is a right, not a privilege, because it relates to your quality of living," Logan notes.  "Legislators are trying to penalize our university for something that is an important step in the right direction." 

Despite the political resistance, Cutler is pleased with the long overdue move, which puts Temple ahead of its peer institutions.

"I think this is the right thing for Temple," Cutler says.  "If Temple can do it, maybe others can as well."

The three unions represent more than 2,300 Temple employees.  [Brooke Boeglin]

[March 28, 2003]