CSEA rejects state fact finder’s recommendations

The county”™s Civil Service Employees Association has rejected a state fact finder”™s recommendations that would have the union’s members contribute to the cost of their health plans for the first time in history.

The CSEA is Westchester County”™s largest public sector union and the only remaining union of eight in the county that doesn”™t pay into its health plans. The union and Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, a Republican, haven”™t been able to settle on a new contract due mainly to differences in opinion on if union members should pay a percentage of their health care costs.

Howard Edelman, the state fact finder, had reviewed information and heard arguments from both sides. In a report released earlier this month, he recommended a tiered system that would have current union members paying between 7.5 percent and 10 percent of their health care plans, with new members to pay 20 percent.

Astorino said at a recent networking event in Suffern that he accepted the recommendation because he felt it was fair to both sides. “Seven percent is far less than what I would want,” he said. With the rejection from the CSEA, Astorino”™s acceptance of the recommendations becomes a moot point.