Gonzalez: City union leaders will fund raises by transferring $1 billion from city health account
As part of the deal to provide raises and back pay to union members in New York City, the mayor and the City?s union leaders would transfer $1 billion from a city health account entrusted to the Municipal Labor Committee and City Hall. The $1 billion transferred out of the account and to the City of New York on July 1 of this year is in addition to the $3.4 billion that the unions will raise thrugh savings from other health care costs over the next four years. If the $3.4 billion in health care cost savings is achieved, then the city workers would be eligible for a bonus of up to 1% of their annual salaries out of a pool of up to $365 million. The fund?s original purpose was to equalize gaps in premiums between the city?s two biggest healthcare insurance providers for city employees in the 1980?s. But those companies have since merged and the fund could have as much in it as $1.8 billion by the July 1 withdrawal.
See "Gonzalez: City union leaders will fund raises by transferring $1 billion from city health account", Juan Gonzalez, New York Daily News, May 7, 2014