Governor Rick Snyder’s administration and state employee unions are arguing about who should be in the room during contract bargaining.
We have more from The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Rick Pluta.
Five state employee unions representing 35 thousand workers want to bargain with the Snyder administration as a single group. That’s how it was done two years ago.
But Governor Snyder’s top negotiator wants fewer people in the room as they talk. Jan Winter says she’s willing to talk with union leaders. But she wants employee bargaining committees banished from the negotiating table. Unions say that’s a non-starter. For now, the state will bargain with each of the five unions individually.
But union leaders say they all intend to offer the same terms to the state. They say their bargaining committees represent employees who have to live with the terms of the contracts, and will be there for the discussions.