Deal raises wages upwards of 7.5 percent over two years 

A deal between Montana’s MEA-MFT and Gov.-elect Brian Schweitzer promises some fiscal relief—for state employees.

Under the two-year agreement, which now must be approved by the Legislature, base pay will increase by a minimum of 3.5 percent and 4 percent, respectively, effective Oct.1, 2005, and Oct. 1, 2006. To be exact: state employees will receive the greater of 3.5 percent or $1,005 annually starting Oct. 1, 2005; and the greater of 4 percent or $1,188 annually starting Oct. 1, 2006.

“Three and a half percent of $15,000 is not the same as 3.5 percent of $30,000,” says MEA-MFT president Eric Feaver. “Some employees will get 10 percent or better over the next two years. They’ve never seen anything better than that.”

Patience Is a Virtue; Political Action, a Must

“From a political action point of view, we are reaping now what we sowed,” says Feaver. “We worked hard to get Schweitzer and a Democratic Legislature [elected], and we did that to get a better deal for state employees.”

Since 2000, when the Montana Education Association (MEA) and the Montana Federation of Teachers/AFT (MFT) merged, renaming the union MEA-MFT, the focus has been on unifying the voice of 16,000-plus public employees from correctional officers to kindergarten teachers.

Lawmakers would “find ways our unions differed in approach and look for reasons not to support us,” recalled former MFT president Jim McGarvey, an AFT vice president and today vice president of the MEA-MFT. “They don’t do this anymore. We speak with one voice.”

MEA-MFT took that voice beyond the state capitol in 2003 when it launched “Work that Matters,” a statewide campaign to put a face on public employees, the work they do and the value it has to Montanans. The campaign was “setting the stage for the conversation that needs to take place in [the] 2005 [Legislature],” says Terry Minow, MEA-MFT staffer.

That campaign, which continues today, has resonated across the state. Feaver notes that throughout his campaign, Schweitzer talked about state employees doing the work that matters.

“When [public personalities] begin to use your terms, your slogans, you are scoring points,” Feaver says. And he is right. Schweitzer, who has never held public office until now, is the first Democrat elected to the post in 16 years. He beat Republican challenger Bob Brown, who was first elected to public office in 1970.

From Zero Percent to 3.5 Percent and Up

MEA-MFT started negotiations over state employee pay back in August with then-Gov. Judy Martz’s administration. Despite the effective state employee wage freeze for the 2003-05 biennium, “Martz came to the table with 0 [percent] and 0 [percent],” says MEA-MFT staffer Todd Lovshin, the negotiating team’s chief spokesperson.

Martz eventually offered 3 percent for each year of the biennium—but the administration would not agree to the union’s proposal to provide a higher percentage increase to lower-paid workers.

“We went in with the goal of doing more for the lower grades to get them a livable wage,” emphasizes bargaining team member Karen Whyde, treasurer and acting president of the MEA-MFT’s Department of Public Health and Human Services local, noting that some employees at the lowest-pay levels are eligible for food stamps.

“It was one of the things that our group said would be a deal killer,” says bargaining team member Joe Rask, president of the union’s Department of Revenue local. “For the Martz administration, it was a deal breaker for them as well. The Schweitzer administration made it happen.”

State employees represented by the MEA-MFT overwhelmingly endorsed the plan by mail-in ballot.

Employees One Step away from Pay Raise

At press time, with Montana state employees positioned to receive their first substantive raise in two years, the union’s focus has turned to mobilizing members for legislative action.

“No one should assume this Legislature will automatically adopt this deal,” says Feaver, noting that decisions over public employee salaries and benefits are “a function of our political system. If you elect people who believe in government and public programs and institutions, you are likely to do better than if you elect people who don’t.”

“Together with the governor, we must work hard to pass it through the Legislature,” Feaver told members in an e-mail, “and put the deal on the governor’s desk before the end of February.”