COLUMBUS, Ohio – State employees will get their first pay raises since 2008 under a new contract approved by the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association and preliminarily by the state.
READ MORE: In the Columbus Dispatch
The cost to taxpayers of raises and benefits will be about $295 million over three years, according to the state Office of Budget and Management.
The three-year contract gives about 30,000 unionized state employees raises of 2.5 percent annually, holds the line on health care, and gives full and part-time employees one-time payments of $750 and $375, respectively.
The benefits package in the new contract will remain the same as the existing pact, with the state paying 85 percent and employees 15 percent. Out-of-pocket expenses, deductibles and co-pays will go up in the final year of the three-year agreement.
About 83 percent of union members ratified the new agreement in quiet statewide voting process that concluded last Friday.
The Controlling Board, a legislative body which approves state spending, heard a presentation Monday about the contract from the Kasich administration, but took no action. The contract will take effect automatically unless the board rejects the pact in 30 days; that is not expected to happen. The old contract expired Feb. 28, but was extended by mutual agreement of both sides.
Negotiations with OCSEA typically set the pattern for contract agreements with other unions. The Ohio State Troopers Association represents 1,800 employees, the Ohio Education Association has 660 members, and the Fraternal Order of Police, represents 580 employees.
All the contracts expire June 30.