PROVIDENCE – The Carcieri administration and the leaders of the largest state employees union have reached a tentative settlement in a contract dispute that has dragged on for several months and led both sides to the R.I. Supreme Court.

The “memorandum of settlement” will be presented to the 5,000 rank-and-file members of Rhode Island Council 94 of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME), ALF-CIO, no later than Oct. 24, according to Gov. Donald L. Carcieri.

“Unfortunately, this was a long process to get us to this point,” Carcieri said in a statement. “There is no question that the state is facing even more fiscal challenges now than when the original agreement was reached with union leaders in June. This agreement will allow the state to attain the cost savings originally projected, and it is my hope that the union membership will ratify the agreement quickly.”

The statement did not detail the tentative agreement, and Carcieri said he would not comment further until after the union vote.

Efforts to reach Council 94 leaders were unsuccessful.

The two sides were due to start arbitration tomorrow, but negotiators have agreed to postpone that process.

It’s not the first time this year a contract proposal has been put to a vote of the full union membership.

In July, a proposed four-year agreement with the State of Rhode Island that was intended to ease the state’s budget woes was overwhelmingly rejected by union workers. (READ MORE) Council 94 members voted 2,870 to 196 against the proposal which, among other effects, would have increased employees’ share of their health insurance premiums and would have saved the state millions of dollars.

When Carcieri issued an executive order that would have unilaterally instituted those changes to the health benefit coshares, the union took him to court. (READ MORE) The legal battle eventually arrived at the R.I. Supreme Court, where Chief Justice Frank J. Williams ordered both sides into mediation and then, after talks broke down last month, into arbitration. (READ MORE)

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 at www.RICouncil94.org.

News and information from the R.I. Governor’s Office are available at www.governor.ri.gov.