PROVIDENCE – A judge today blocked Gov. Donald L. Carcieri from unilaterally imposing higher health care fees on Rhode Island Council 94 members working in the executive branch until the dispute has been heard by the R.I. Labor Relations Board.

R.I. Superior Court Associate Justice Patricia A. Hurst ordered the Carcieri administration and Council 94 of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, to appear before the Labor Relations Board immediately and report back to her every two weeks.

Hurst wrote that the governor could increase the health care deductions for non-union executive branch employees, but added that “he cannot implement an executive order increasing Council 94’s health-care deductions if doing so runs afoul of the law – as it would under the present circumstances. The governor is subject to all of the laws of this state that govern collective-bargaining disputes, and his executive powers neither supercede [sic] them, transcend them, nor trump them in whole or in part.”

Law and public policy “prohibit unilateral action by either party until, at the very earliest, the mediation, conciliation and arbitration process … have been completed,” the judge wrote.

Today’s ruling – in a 10-page supplement to her 19-page decision last week (READ MORE) – followed meetings yesterday and late last week with representatives of both parties that were spurred by differing interpretations of her initial ruling.

Last Wednesday, Hurst had ordered that the dispute over whether Carcieri could implement changes in health insurance “cosharing” without union approval should be sent to the labor board.

In doing so, Hurst chided the governor for having allowed the $6.89 billion fiscal 2009 state budget to become law even though it assumed $60 million of saving from labor negotiations that were not complete. Administration officials have said that increasing health care fees for Council 94 members would save $10 million.

In that initial ruling, the judge made it clear that Carcieri had no power to unilaterally change health care fees for Council 94 employees in the judiciary and legislative branches. But, although she did say that health care changes involving union workers in the executive branch should be addressed by the Labor Relations Board, Hurst wasn’t as clear about whether the governor could implement those changes while the case proceeded at the labor board.

So Carcieri moved forward with plans to deduct additional health care costs from Council 94 members working in the executive branch. About 98 percent of the union’s 5,000 members work in the executive branch, the governor’s office has said.

The governor’s office released a statement which said, in part, that “this latest decision by Judge Hurst attempts to usurp the authority of the Office of the Governor and flagrantly disregards separation of powers. The judge has no authority to negotiate for the unions and has no authority to mandate that my office report to her on issues before the state’s Labor Relations Board,” the office said.

Carcieri – who called the new ruling “a complete and outrageous reversal” – indicated in the statement that he would ask Council 94 to post a bond for the money that would have been collected if he had implemented the new cosharing scheme.

Council 94 representatives declined to comment on today’s court action pending a review of the ruling by their legal advisers.

Rhode Island Council 94 of the American Federation of State, County & 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 from the union at www.RICouncil94.org. News and information from the R.I. Governor’s Office are available at www.governor.ri.gov. The R.I. Labor Relations Board, a division of the R.I. Department of Labor and Training, oversees collective bargaining elections and resolves charges of unfair labor practices. Additional information is available at www.dlt.ri.gov/lrb.