Thursday's meeting of the Troy City Council featured a discussion on the city's recent decision to end healthcare coverage for retired workers. The city claimed that up to this year, it had been paying out health benefits to retired workers without a contract requiring them to do so. Both employees and spouses were covered.
The city discovered the issue this past May, and decided to end coverage on November 1. Troy is self-insured for all healthcare costs, where the city is responsible for all charges above and beyond the premiums paid by employees.
A letter was sent out to all former employees over the last several weeks, with the last letters being mailed this past week. Many employees were not aware of the discontinuation until receiving the letter. Mayor Harry Tutunjian stated that while the city will do everything in its power to assist retirees and their families, it can no longer afford to support former employees without a past agreement to provide benefits.
Former employees and Civil Service Employees Association union members at the city council meeting expressed their disagreement with the decision, using established precedent to uphold the current provision of benefits. One retiree cited an agreement stating employees would have benefits covered after four years of service, with no mention of discontinuing coverage.
Another cited how coverage could be broken into two time periods: before 1989 and after. Prior to that, no explicit policy was set, indicating "passive approval" of health coverage. In 1989, a CSEA labor contract was said to have officially established retiree benefits, including spousal coverage after 25 years of service.
Union members stated resolutely that they intend to appeal the decision. A labor relations representative from the CSEA, citing how benefits were covered under both contract and precedent, stated that, "This union will do everything in its power to see this thing reversed."The Albany-Area CSEA president echoed similar feelings, saying how "[the CSEA] will fight and keep coming back our folks vote and we'll deal with [Mayor Tutunjian]." Union members also voiced discontent, including one who mentioned," If they get away with this, they'll cancel Christmas."
