Several state employees have asked the State of Alaska to stop deducting union dues from their paychecks.
Their requests were in response to the recent decision by the Attorney General that the State’s current practices relating to collection of union dues are not in compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision known as Janus.
The Department of Administration notified the public employee union Alaska State Employee Association, advising that the State would halt deductions for these employees.
ASEA, representing the general government bargaining unit, threatened litigation if the Department of Administration did not continue to collect the dues on behalf of the union, according to a press release from the Department of Law.
To ensure employees’ First Amendment rights are honored, Attorney General Kevin Clarkson filed a lawsuit Monday, asking the court to confirm that the Department of Administration, when directed by an individual employee, should stop deducting the dues from that employee’s paychecks.
“The Supreme Court made it clear in Janus that public employees have the freedom to pay union dues or not,” said Clarkson. “Janus also requires that the State have clear and compelling evidence of a state employee’s choice to pay union dues. If the State receives a direct request to stop paying union dues, the State must honor that request or else it would be violating the employee’s First Amendment right.
“Because we want to make sure we are acting in compliance with the Constitution, we are asking the court to confirm the State’s actions in halting dues deductions when directly requested by an employee,” he said.
Under the prior administration, DOA had sent employees back to the unions to make a request to stop union dues deductions, Clarkson said.
Alaska Budget Director Donna Arduin, who has been the point of the spear on budget reforms for Gov. Michael Dunleavy, will move into an advisory role at the end of the month. But as of this morning, she is no longer the budget director for the State of Alaska.
Arduin was brought in to do the heavy lifting to bring spending in line with revenues. She was told to identify $1.6 billion in budget cuts, and to do so within about six weeks of her boots hitting the ground in Alaska.
Arduin is a nationally respected budget hawk who has helped numerous governors during tough budget times, such as Jeb Bush of Florida and Arnold Schwarzenegger of California. She was championed by Alaska fiscal conservatives, and reviled by Democrats. Women Democrats were especially vile, criticizing her on social media for her attire (the fact that she wore sleeveless dresses, an animal skin collar etc. She is the sharpest dresser in Juneau.)
She cleaned house at the Office of Management and Budget, getting rid of all the Walker Administration appointees, and she and the staff did the job she was asked to do, and endured a lot of abuse by the Legislature and the Left, particularly those who were ushered out with Walker. At one point, the threats against Arduin became so personal that the door to the Office of Management and Budget in Juneau was locked for safety of the employees.
Arduin, who has national prominence, arguably can be described as having sacrificed more on Dunleavy’s behalf than anyone in his administration. She was the person that the Left could and did attack because she was from “Outside” Alaska; she became the scapegoat for the policies of the Dunleavy Administration.
Her hiring last December was a sign that Dunleavy was serious about budget cuts. Her departure signals that the Dunleavy Administration is tacking to the middle, and that future budgets will not be as Draconian — if there are cuts at all.
But this change in OMB may also signal that Dunleavy has taken all the pressure he can take over cuts, as he faces a serious recall campaign from the Left.
Arduin leaves the Administration two weeks after former Chief of Staff Tuckerman Babcock resigned. He had been moved into the role of senior advisor a couple of weeks before his resignation.
Joe Geldhof, who has been a supporter of the governor’s campaign promise to restore the Permanent Fund dividend, told Must Read Alaska “based on my observations and experience working with individuals tasked with building budgets in Alaska and in the federal government, I can say without reservation Arduin is both skilled and significantly better at assembling budget proposals for consideration by the governor than most Alaska OMB directors since 1979, when I started paying attention.”
“Donna Arduin was given a job consistent with campaign promises and more importantly tasked with recommending budget reductions consistent with revenues received by the State of Alaska. She did a remarkably good job at pulling together a crew on short notice and delivering recommendations on where and how to cut,” Geldhof said. “Was the work perfect? Naturally no, but it was significantly better than the usual run-of-the-mill budget proposals many of us have witnessed for decades in Alaska, which pretty much amount to gimmicks for spending money from savings accounts.”
Alaska could learn something from Seattle and other large urban megalopolises when it comes to the homeless and “diversion” programs.
Take, for instance, operations in place for decades in cities such as San Francisco and New York and West Palm Beach, in Florida, to help send the homeless back to where they say they came from.
The city of Seattle and community organizations already offer the homeless free bus tickets out of town, but Reagan Dunn, a King County council member, wants to take it further. He wants to set up a $1 million, free-standing government program to provide bus tickets for “family unification.” It would be part of the city’s homeless diversion program, the Associated Press reports.
Dunn, we believe, is onto something. In territorial days, Alaska used to have a “blue ticket” that was offered those who ran afoul of the law and were given the choice of jail or a one-way ticket south. If they took the ticket, they were escorted to Seward to catch a steamship heading south.
Alaska and the city of Anchorage, along with social agencies, Native corporations and other private businesses, should consider an updated version of that program for the homeless, perhaps mirroring Seattle’s, to help those who want to go home.
It would not be the complete answer to Anchorage’s homeless problem – not everybody, after all, wants or is able to go home – but it certainly is a better idea than herding the homeless from one city park to another every 10 days or warehousing them in permanent camps that only promise more problems than solutions.
It would be a step toward helping to solve their problem and the city’s.
Memorial services for Dr. Nels Anderson, the late mayor of Soldotna, take place on Monday, Sept. 16, at the following locations:
LDS (Mormon) Church on Marydale Ave. in Soldotna: Viewing from 2:30-3:45 pm Service from 4-4:45 pm. Interment to follow at Soldotna Memorial Park.
Soldotna Sports Complex: A community gathering celebrating the life of Dr. Anderson from 6:30-8 pm.
“He gave so much to his community. Let’s gather as one to celebrate the passing of this great servant,” said Sen. Peter Micciche.
Dr. Anderson was born on Feb. 28, 1946 in Bangor, Northern Ireland. He was the oldest of six children. The family moved to Logan, Utah.
He attended Utah State University, where he met Carla, his wife of 54 years, during their freshman year. They married in Twin Falls, Idaho, on Feb. 15, 1965, and moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, to continue their undergraduate studies.
Anderson earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biochemistry from the University of Saskatchewan and earned a medical degree from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. He joined the U.S. Air Force in 1973, completing his residency and specialized in obstetrics and infertility. He was assigned to Elmendorf Air Force Base to practice medicine.
Upon discharge from the Air Force, the couple moved to Soldotna, and have called the Peninsula home ever since.
During his 36 years in Soldotna, Dr. Anderson made his mark on his community as a family physician, an in vitro fertilization specialist, public servant, Boy Scout leader, church leader, dog musher, and avid gardener.
As a physician, obstetrics was his favorite part of family medicine, and he was the only in vitro fertilization doctor doing test-tube babies in the state of Alaska. During his career, he delivered more than 5,000 babies, with more than 300 of them test-tube babies.
Bringing those little miracles to those families is the true legacy he leaves behind.
He was the chief of staff at the Central Peninsula General Hospital two separate times, and served as the president of the Alaska chapter of the American Cancer Society. Anderson was awarded as the Alaskan Family Physician of the Year in 1999.
Dr. Anderson took a seat on the Kenai Peninsula School Board and served for 16 years, and was School Board president for many of those years. He was elected to serve on the Soldotna City Council from 2009-2012, and he was instrumental in the creation of the Soldotna Community Memorial Park, Soldotna’s first cemetery.
In 2014, Anderson began his first term as Soldotna City Mayor. He would serve until he left for a mission in West Africa in 2016. Anderson served a second term as Mayor upon his return in 2017, which he held until his death.
Mayor Anderson was an active and devoted member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving in many capacities during his life, from teaching Sunday school to serving as a bishop.
Upon his move to Alaska, Dr. Anderson embraced all things Alaska, including taking up the sport of dog mushing after being asked to sponsor a local musher. Like everything else in his life, he didn’t do anything halfway. A mere five months after his first time mushing, he ran and completed his first Iditarod race in 1987. He would go on to run the race two more times in 1991 and 1992.
After his racing days had passed, he continued to support the local mushing community, and was given the honor of being the Race Marshal for the Tustamena 200. Dr. Anderson also owned a commercial setnet fishing site, which his sons worked diligently to pay their way through college.
Dr. Anderson will be remembered for his love for his fellow man, giving service above all and truly exemplifying a statement he was often heard him telling his scouts, “Character is what you do when nobody is watching.” He was the true leader of his family and led by example to his seven children, 19 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.
He is survived by his wife, Carla; five sons, Hubert (Elaine Jones) of Salt Lake City, Utah, Jeremy (Laura Sozio) of Hermiston, Ore., Matt (Valerie Popper) of Kansas City, Mo., Nate (Allison Bingham) of Anchorage, Alaska, and Deryk (Julia Sullivan) of Palmer, Alaska; two daughters, Carissa of Anchorage and Rebecca (Derek Johnson) of Heber City, Utah; his three brothers, Bryan, Kim and Deryk Anderson; and two sisters, Elizabeth Wooton and Melanie Wadsworth.
U.S. oil futures advanced about 12 percent to $61.60 a barrel shortly after trading opened at 6 p.m. Eastern Time in Asian markets.
Brent crude jumped 13 percent to nearly $70 a barrel, before retreating a bit. New York trading starts Monday morning, and the commodities markets will most likely be frenetic.
On Saturday, several drone strikes on two Saudi Arabian oil refineries took half of that country’s oil production offline, representing about 5 percent of the world’s daily production of crude oil. Yemen’s “Houthi” rebels claimed responsibility.
Bloomberg reported, “For oil markets, it’s the single worst sudden disruption ever, surpassing the loss of Kuwaiti and Iraqi petroleum supply in August 1990, when Saddam Hussein invaded his neighbor. It also exceeds the loss of Iranian oil output in 1979 during the Islamic Revolution, according to data from the U.S. Department of Energy.”
Morningstar research director, Sandy Fielden was reported saying that, “Brent could go to $80 tomorrow, while WTI could go to $75… But that would depend on Aramco’s 48-hour update. The supply problem won’t be clear right away since the Saudis can still deliver from inventory.”
Fielden was quoted by the New York Times: “The price (of oil) is going to jump all right, but the Saudis and U.S. have a day to run interference on their positions before then. The most scary result would be a Saudi escalation of the war in Yemen. Then the whole Gulf gets trigger-happy.”
President Donald Trump added his two cents on Twitter, saying he’ll open up strategic oil reserves and wants pipeline permits expedited.
Alaska tracks closer to Brent than WTI. Brent is expected to pop up again on Monday morning, and Alaska North Slope crude will follow. Alaska’s oil, like Brent, gets a premium that could mean as much as $7 per barrel more than WTI.
THE ALASKA PRODUCTION SWEET SPOT
Alaska’s budget woes could benefit from $80 a barrel oil, but only if production is maintained above the 500,000 per barrel, per day mark.
With the Willow and Pikka fields still awaiting their final investment decisions by ConocoPhillips and OilSearch, Alaska could shoot itself in the foot with the Fair Share oil tax ballot initiative that former Gov. Bill Walker’s ally and business partner Robin Brena is spearheading.
Final investment decisions for the billions of dollars needed to open up these promising fields could be put on the back burner while companies charge full steam ahead to develop other fields around the country that look more promising, with fewer headaches and lower taxes, experts told Must Read Alaska.
The Swan Lake Fire on the Kenai Peninsula has burned 163,714 acres, is 48 percent contained, and has 305 firefighting personnel assigned to it.
A Community Meeting about the Swan Lake Fire is scheduled for 6 pm on Monday, Sept. 16, at the Cooper Landing School, 19030 Bean Creek Road, Cooper Landing.
Fire operations personnel and local agency representatives will be in attendance to provide updates regarding the fire and be available to answer questions following the updates.
Fire crews made good progress working along Skilak Road cutting trees that were weakened by fire, and chipping brush. Aircraft patrolled the south side of the fire on Saturday.
Firefighters continued to cool hot spots and mop up along the southeastern side of the fire near the Fuller Lakes Trail, where hot spots have been found.
Structure protection crews chipped wood along Bean Creek Road and started working near the Russian Gap and in and around Cooper Landing.
The weather was briefly drier and warmer which caused a little more smoke in the air however, fire behavior remained low due to the recent moisture and humidity.
Planned Actions: The south side of the fire will continue to be monitored by aircraft. Firefighters will work along Skilak Road cutting fire weakened trees and chipping brush.
On the southeastern side of the fire crews will return to the Fuller Lakes Trail area where heat has been found over the past few days and continue to work on cooling the hot spots.
The weather forecast includes rain starting by late morning over the fire area and cooler temperatures.
Fire behavior is expected to remain low during the day although the heavy fuels and ground duff layers continue to hold heat.
When traveling on the reopened section of Skilak Road to the reopened Lower Skilak area and boat launch, officials say visitors need to be aware that hazardous conditions exist in the burned areas that can be difficult to see. Standing trees can be weakened as the fire burns the organic duff layer surrounding their roots.
Any amount of wind will blow these trees down. In addition, the fire has burned very deep in some places, leaving hot ash pits behind. Remember to keep pets and children close at hand and out of the burned area to prevent injuries.
Restrictions/Closures: An area closure remains in effect for a channel on the south side of the Kenai River from approximately River Mile 69.5 to River Mile 71.5. The Kenai River remains closed beyond Jim’s Landing to Skilak Lake. The Lower Skilak campground remains closed.
All the lands off the Lower Skilak boat access road, including Marsh Lake Trailhead remain closed. All refuge lands that have been burned are closed to public access. Information on these closures is available at https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6387/.
Temporary Flight Restrictions: The current TFR in place for air space over the Swan Lake Fire (9/9687 NOTAM) will lesson impacts to local aviation operators. This includes drones. If drones are flying in the area, the firefighting planes cannot fly.
Cooperating Agencies: US Fish and Wildlife Service, State of Alaska Division of Forestry, US Forest Service, Alaska State Parks, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Central Emergency Services, Cooper Landing Volunteer Fire Department, Alaska State Troopers, National Guard, Alaska Department of Transportation, Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
Just two years ago, Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz was so unconcerned about a possible nuclear threat from North Korea, that he glibly told the Washington Post: “I’m more worried about moose than missiles.”
It was the quote heard ’round the world.
Now that the mayor of Camp Berkowitz roving homeless encampments in Anchorage has solved the transient problem with a civil emergency declaration, he has decided to tackle nuclear war.
Because success breeds success.
This weekend, Berkowitz signed Anchorage up with a nuclear ban campaign sponsored by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Cities Appeal.
ICAN, as it’s known, was in Anchorage for the occasion, which took place during an education event, “Hiroshima-Amchitka Legacies: What Future Can We Choose,” held at the Anchorage Museum on Saturday.
Rep. Lance Pruitt is in his ninth year of representing East Anchorage House District 27, and in his 38th year of living in that same district. With the exception of being born out of district at Regional Hospital, he’s East Anchorage through and through.
Pruitt is being pushed by political activists to run for mayor of Anchorage — a race that now has several Democrats eyeing it, including Democrat Rep. Ivy Spohnholz, who is said to have the Mark Begich machine behind her, and Anchorage Assemblyman Forrest Dunbar, who may get out in front of Spohnholz and file in October. Eric Croft, termed-limited out on the Assembly, is also interested, and even Assemblyman Christopher Constant has tested the idea with friends. Even Assemblywoman Austin Quinn-Davidson is rumored to be noodling the idea.
So far, no Republicans have shown much interest, and Pruitt has emerged as a recruitment target for an election that will take place 18 months from now, with early voting starting in early March of that year.
CAN HE DO IT?
Pruitt considered the mayoral race during in 2017, but ultimately didn’t go there. Timing is everything, and this may be his season. After all, a guy like Pruitt might want to do something other than spend half of every year in Juneau, away from his wife and children.
Here are the Top 5 reasons why Pruitt would make a good mayor — and one big reason why he shouldn’t run:
HARD WORKER
Pruitt is a tireless campaigner, known to walk his entire district three times a year, even on non-election years, listening to as many people as he can face to face, and then he’s the one standing by the school on the first day of classes, waving a sign to welcome the students back and wish them well. He often attends athletic meets and cheering on local students for their efforts at pep rallies and recognition assemblies in his district.
Pruitt worked hard in the private sector, and was with FedEx as a manager for six years, before becoming general manager for Sears Logistics for Alaska. He had to leave that job when in his third year in the Legislature he could no longer say in good faith that his Juneau commitment was only for 90 days.
Already, during the summer months, Pruitt has been walking the district — as a lawmaker and not as a candidate, because he has not declared his run for re-election. He is, however, facing a serious challenge if he chooses to run again. Anchorage left-wing food guru Liz Snyder, who ran against him two years ago, has filed and is now stockpiling money at fundraisers.
2. WINNING RECORD
Pruitt, a Republican, has consistently won what is considered a blue district.
Liz Snyder lost to Pruitt 50.9 to 48.5 percent, in one of the toughest races of 2018. That was the year his district voted the full ticket for Democrats…except Pruitt. His district is home to some pretty big-name Democrats, such as Pete Petersen and Mark Begich.
In 2016, Pruitt beat Harry Crawford, 50.98 to 49.02 percent. Crawford was the representative for that district (although it was a different numbered district under different district map) from 2001-2011.
In 2014, Pruitt beat Matt Moore, 58.7 percent to 41.3 percent.
Even when Pete Petersen was his opponent in 2011, and when some $300,000 was spent on negative campaigning against Pruitt, Pruitt came out on top in D27. It was the most expensive race in Alaska State House history.
That means there are a lot of cross-over votes for Pruitt, a testament to the way Pruitt connects with people, as well as his values.
3. YOUTH COMBINED WITH EXPERIENCE
At 38, Pruitt is no longer the youngest legislator in the House, (that’s Rep. Sara Rasmussen), but he’s the most experienced of the current conservative crop of what’s called the Oregon Trail Generation (between Generation X and Y) in Anchorage. These are the people in their late 30s who grew up with both analog and digital technologies, and they are half old-school, half tech trailblazers.
Pruitt served as both the youngest Majority leader in Alaska history and now as Minority leader in the Alaska House.
He will cheerfully talk to those with opposing views, such as the time he took a selfie with a yelling protester in a Wasilla gymnasium this summer; Pruitt is not shy about meeting people where they are at, and trying to have a dialogue.
Although he is a fiscal conservative, Pruitt has remained cordial with now-presidential candidate and Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg, as well as another Democrat– Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford. The three up-and-comers met while attending and in the same leadership class at the Aspen Institute, the Rodel Fellowship.
Pruitt was named a Top 40 Under 40 — young people to watch across the country — by the Washington Post in 2014.
4. PASSIONATE ABOUT LOCAL ISSUES
Pruitt was out in front opposing a bus barn from being located next to residential homes in his district, when the Anchorage School District had drawn up plans to do just that. It wasn’t in his legislative wheelhouse, but was a big local issue for his constituents. When his neighbors fumed about diesel exhaust in the winter months pumped into a neighborhood known for its air inversions, as well as the associated noise, increased traffic, and a decrease in property values, Pruitt jumped into that local issue and fought for them at the school board level. The barn was moved elsewhere.
Pruitt also has a passion about turning the tide on the opioid crisis, one of the primary causes of homelessness and crime in Anchorage, and was one of the first to introduce legislation that protects people during drug overdose emergencies. If a drug user has a friend who is overdosing and calls 911, they won’t be arrested for using. House Bill 369 was known as the “Make the Call” Good Samaritan bill.
Unlike many others in the Legislature, he opposed Senate Bill 91 from the beginning, because he knew it would only add to the crime wave.
5. WON’T BUCKLE UNDER PRESSURE
Pruitt has been called too conservative, too moderate, and too liberal. But he just doesn’t seem to let it get under his skin. He doesn’t make decisions based on his chances for re-election, but just does what he thinks is best for his district and state.
He currently leads a minority caucus that has liberal Republicans, and conservative Republicans, and he’s been able to keep them together.
THE ONE REASON WHY PRUITT SHOULDN’T RUN FOR MAYOR:
Right now, the House Republican Minority has stayed united, and there are a number of freshmen who have only been through one year, albeit it was a grueling one and ought to count for two, considering the special sessions.
The House freshmen rely on Pruitt for leadership, and if he quits the House to focus on a local opportunity to lead the state’s largest city, his seat will be at risk of being taken over by Democrat Liz Snyder, who is an ally of the hardest-core leftist lawmakers in the state. Shaking that seat loose from the Democrats could take redistricting, which would come at the possible expense of a neighboring district.
Pruitt has found a way to balance out a caucus that has people from disparate points of view — people like hard-right Rep. David Eastman of District 10, and more centrist Sara Rasmussen of District 22. He’s helped his fellow lawmakers become more effective in both strategy, approach, and even decorum. Without him, will the Republican Minority Caucus hold together?
Also, without him fighting to retain his seat, the current 16 Republicans may be just 15 strong, making it harder hold it together under pressure next year. With more budget cuts likely, the pressure may be too much for some of them.
Of course, that’s theory, and it’s based on an assumption that the House won’t turn completely blue during the next election cycle, which is a pretty speculative assumption, considering how effective Democrats have been at coopting Republicans in the House, and outmaneuvering the governor on several fronts.
If Democrats take more seats in this cycle, the Democrat majority won’t need some of the Republicans they are currently using to retain power. Those Republicans could rejoin the Republican minority caucus, as Rep. Tammie Wilson did in the spring.
I have trouble taking teacher strikes seriously; they’re generally either the result of hysteria or they’re a charade, and sometimes there is some of both.
You never know what the sentiments of the majority of the employees are; you hear the voices of the loudest malcontents and of the union leadership.
The “strike vote” is conducted by the union without any outside verification so the union can and does say whatever it wants about the vote.
In my time in labor relations I never saw a strike vote rejected and mostly the union said the support for the strike was “overwhelming.” That said, try as we might at times, we never could get one of the State unions to strike in my 20 years of dealing with them.
Teachers, or their union, on the other hand, almost always own their employers, the School Board. The two entities that have no part in teacher negotiations are parents and taxpayers.
All the school board elections are on an off-the-wall date rather than concurrent with the November General Election date. Consequently, the only people who vote are “super voters,” school district employees, and people with their hooves in the school district trough.
In the best of circumstances only a minority of the electorate pays property taxes and other than property taxpayers, nobody much cares what the “free babysitting” costs.
Back in the early 1990s, the Hickel Administration decided to fix the situation with teacher bargaining around the State. There was a mixed bag of local ordinances either controlling or prohibiting teacher and other school employee bargaining, plus state law that set out the contours and limits of teacher bargaining, but didn’t apply to non-certificated employees of school districts.
The Hickel Administration moved to put all certificated and non-certificated school employees under the Alaska Public Employment Relations Act (AS 23.40.070 – .260). Of course, the National Extortion Association (officially known as the National Education Association) was only too happy to help the Legislature with the proposed amendments to PERA. The Administration and the Legislature were stupid enough to listen to the union.
First they stuck in a silly advisory arbitration provision that requires the the selected arbitrator to have local knowledge. It isn’t always honored, but since the union and the school board/management are generally on the same side, it is easy for them to select a favorite who’ll play the game the way they want it played.
Then, when they assemble their offers to present to arbitration (and there are no rules for just how that is to be done), both the union and the school board put all sorts of “throw-aways” in their offer to make it look like management is doing its job and the union puts in stuff it doesn’t want and knows it won’t get so the arbitrator can make it look like s/he was being even-handed.
When the opinion comes out, it looks like each party got something and each party didn’t get things it wanted.
In reality, the union usually gets everything it really wanted and the things the employer got are worthless, meaningless, or both.
Then, more importantly, they put in a provision that says that a teacher strike can only be initiated after school has started.
There must be one regular day of school before the union can give the required 72-hour notice of a strike, so the kiddies have four days of school, the parents have discontinued their summer childcare arrangements. Then the school takes the babysitters away by closing down because of the strike.
So, that is the environment of teacher strikes.
We can now turn to the strike by Kenai Peninsula Borough School District teachers that appears inevitable on Tuesday.
First, as is usually the case, there is a lot of smoke and noise about money and not much of it is true. The Kenai school employees haven’t had much in the way of negotiated general increases in the last few years. Few employees in Alaska have, other than some that got in on Gov. Walker’s 11th hour largesse.
What the teachers and their unions never talk about is the step and column pay schemes that guarantee them a significant raise every year just for continuing to breathe and show up for a step increase, and if they take continuing education classes that everybody passes, they move up the column system and get a raise for taking the class.
If the Kenai Peninsula School District pay scheme is anything like the State of Alaska’s, the district needs a general personal services budget increase of over 3 percent every year just to maintain status quo and pay for step increases. Kenai is at least that much since they have both step and column increases.
But the real beef is health insurance costs.
Kenai was already paying very high health insurance costs, some $1,700 and change back a year or so ago, and they had a provision that if the cost of the plan went over that, the increase would be shared equally between the district and the employee.
Somewhere they changed that to a 70-30 split between the district and employee. The union wants relief from the cost sharing that will cost over $3,000 per employee and the plan cost is around $27,000 per employee per year, or about $2,250/employee/month.
By way of comparison, the State pays $1,530/employee per month for the very generous General Government Unit plan, a contribution that will rise to $1,570/employee per month in Fiscal Year 2022.
The GGU plan is 80-20, State-employee, with a stop loss that is $3,000-$4,000. I don’t know the details of the GGU plan, since the union runs it and isn’t very forthcoming about details, but all the other State plans get about the same contribution and all have at least some deductibles and co-pays, so the employee has to reach in their own pocket a bit for most healthcare. There are some deductibles in the Kenai plan, but nothing particularly substantial even in the so-called “high deductible” plan.
Both the district and the union have made lots of noise about high costs in their service area, but the State plans also cover high cost, some of them very high cost, areas.
So, here is what I think is the real issue: A union-bought-and-paid-for School Board gave the union/employees control of the plan.
The plan has an elaborate Benefits Committee that has almost no management representation. That committee has the power to set the benefits and other provisions of the plan.
In sum, the district has lost all control of health insurance costs because it gave the control away. The union wants its gold-plated Cadillac plan, doesn’t want to pay anything for it, and wants the Kenai Peninsula’s taxpayers to pick up the tab.
I don’t see any way to get the toothpaste back in the tube. A legitimate management would just ride out the strike, but there really is no downside for the teachers; Little Johnny is guaranteed his 180 days of “education” so if they strike for a week, a month, or whatever, the days they missed just get tacked on to the school year. The only people who are out anything are the taxpayers and parents who had to disrupt their life because of childcare issues.
Kenai Peninsula School District healthcare costs are obscene. No sane management would have given away the right to control the plan, but the good people of Kenai elected a Board to run the schools, and now they get to pay for it.
Art Chance is a retired Director of Labor Relations for the State of Alaska, formerly of Juneau and now living in Anchorage. He is the author of the book, “Red on Blue, Establishing a Republican Governance,” available at Amazon.
