NORTH PROVIDENCE – A proposed four-year agreement with the State of Rhode Island that was intended to ease the state’s budget woes was overwhelmingly rejected today by union workers.

The vote followed “a vigorous debate … over the proposed settlement,” according to J. Michael Downey, president of the Rhode Island Council 94 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO.

Council 94 members voted 2,870 to 196 against the four-year master-contract settlement. The votes against totaled about 93 percent of all ballots cast – including the 18 voided as blank or incomplete – and about 70 percent of the council’s total membership.

The tentative agreement – the product of “nearly six months of extensive discussions and negotiations” – “won’t achieve the full $60 million in savings we had hoped for [but] includes some unprecedented reforms for Rhode Island taxpayers,” Gov. Donald L. Carcieri had said in a statement last month. (READ MORE)

Dennis Grilli, the council’s executive director, today recalled that, “in late January, Council 94 entered into informal discussions with the administration to help identify ways to help cope with the 2008 and 2009 budget deficits.” Those talks failed to yield any agreement until the end of June, when union officials agreed “to bring the proposed settlement back to the membership for a ratification vote,” he said.

Today’s vote followed “a thorough examination / discussion of the proposed settlement,” Grilli noted. “State local union presidents were provided copies of a PowerPoint presentation; the PowerPoint was posted on our new Web site; and Council 94 leadership [and] staff participated in several presentations,” he said.

Now, Downey said. “Our membership has spoken by voting, and they have rejected the proposed settlement with the state.

“Council 94’s membership strongly believes the proposed settlement would hurt their economic / job security and their families,” the union president added. “There simply were not enough positive aspects … to outweigh the harsh economic hits,” which he described as “especially harmful to some of our lowest-paid members.”

Looking to the future, Grilli said, “we will now notify the state to begin negotiations, in an effort to reach a new proposed settlement. I know that Council 94 members want to keep working hard, providing Rhode Islanders with high-quality services, until and after a new agreement.”

“Dennis [Grilli] and I are eager to jointly prepare for negotiations, mediation, conciliation and / or arbitration,” Downey added. “Council 94 will continue to fight for a fair, sound contract in good faith.”

In a statement this evening, Carcieiri said: “I had hoped that Council 94 would have agreed to pull together and do what is best for the state, as nearly two-thirds of the other state employee unions have by ratifying the agreement,” he said.

The pact rejected by AFSCME members – which he described as “fair and reasonable” – “had been agreed to by union leadership in the spirit of cooperation and what is best for all Rhode Islanders,” Carcieiri said.

“After a lot of hard work and tough decisions by my administration and the legislature, the state passed a budget that saw significant reductions in funding to social service programs, local aid and state employee benefits [READ MORE],” the governor said, “and I had hoped that Council 94 members would have chosen to be a part of the solution to the state’s financial difficulties.

“The state’s economy is showing signs of worsening – adding even greater pressure to the budget – and I have an obligation to take whatever steps necessary to balance the budget,” Carcieri said. “I will be meeting with staff over the next several days and will decide the best course of action for all Rhode Islanders.”

Rhode Island Council 94 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO, is the state’s largest public-employee union, with about 4,100 members or a third of active state employees. Additional information is available at www.RICouncil94.org.