Legislative action expected this spring on the two-year economic package

Some 3,300 public employees represented by the FPE/AFT-affiliated Montana Education Association-Montana Federation of Teachers (MEA-MFT) overwhelmingly ratified a two-year economic package Dec. 18, 2000, that would increase pay and curb employees' out-of-pocket health care costs. Under the plan, which must be approved by the state legislature and Gov. Judy Martz, some 10,000 executive branch employees would receive 4 percent pay raises July 1, 2001, and July 1, 2002; and the state would increase its monthly health insurance contributions by $30 in January 2002, and by an additional $41 in January 2003.

The agreement was reached under former Gov. Marc Racicot, and it has the support of key lawmakers--namely, Gov. Martz, who was lieutenant governor under Racicot, and Dave Lewis, who was elected in November 2000 to the state house but was the budget director during negotiations over the agreement.

Jim McGarvey, MEA-MFT vice president and chair of the FPE/AFT program and policy council, says Gov. Martz committed her support to the economic agreement during the election. "A deal is a deal," he says. "The money is in the budget. We will get it."

In addition to the pay and health care gains, the agreement would establish a $150,000 labor relations training fund to finance instruction on collective bargaining, labor relations and conflict resolution. McGarvey anticipates the legislature will take action on the measure in March.