On September 2nd, the Court informed UPE that they had another proposal and would like to meet after your team declared an impasse on August 28th. Today, September 3rd, your bargaining team met with the Court to discuss their latest offer. However, we were not surprised to find that there was nothing new.
As you may recall, last week they proposed a one-year deal with a 3% COLA but removed all other items from the table, including the Tahoe Subsistence and Longevity. In today's proposal, they offered an additional year with a 3% COLA for year two, which could drop to 2% if the TCTF falls below $25.5 million. The Court also indicated that the longer we take to reach an agreement, the more likely there will be "unforeseen" expenses that could impact the bottom line. Presently, they mentioned a new, unexpected IT expense amounting to approximately $250,000.
Your team believes this deal is not something we should present to the membership for a vote. Therefore, we reaffirmed our stance that we are still at an impasse. UPE will initiate the impasse process today and will keep everyone updated as developments occur.
