An Introduction to the AFSCME Council 13
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 13 is composed of over 60 local unions representing more than 40,000 public employees and retirees throughout Pennsylvania. With their most recent contract covering thousands of public employees from Lehighton to Pittsburgh, AFSCME and its locals are some of the largest and most powerful unions in the state. The Council serves as the Pennsylvania affiliate of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a national union with more than 1.4 million members nationwide – 150 , 000 in Pennsylvania.
AFSCME locals are deeply rooted in the historic battles between organized labor and public employers throughout Pennsylvania. Their membership includes municipal workers, water authorities, health care providers, administrators, professional staff, corrections officers, public safety officers and library employees. Their collective bargaining agreement runs the gamut from routine cost of living increases to management restrictions on outsourcing. Unquestionably, the influence of this massive labor organization impacts every taxpayer in the state.
What is the Master Agreement?
The AFSCME Council 13 Master Agreement is a comprehensive contract that outlines the terms and conditions of employment for all represented members throughout the state of Pennsylvania. The Master Agreement is your contract with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, negotiated steadily to include fair pay rates, benefits, working conditions, grievance procedures, and a host of other worker rights. Without the Master Agreement, it would be up to the discretion of the Commonwealth to determine employment standards for your job.
The Master Agreement contains articles for each of your collective bargaining rights. Some articles outline your actual job description, benefits, and work hours. It is also organized to include provisions for grievance procedures and general working conditions. For example, if an employer were to violate your attendance policy, the Master Agreement provides a procedure to ensure that you are afforded due process under the collective bargaining agreement. Further, each job description within your bargaining unit is detailed within the Master Agreement, along with a table of pay rates. In addition to the above roles, the Master Agreement considers seniority, employee transfers, labor/management relations, mandatory and non-mandatory topics of bargaining, personnel policies, and a plethora of other workplace standards.
Master Agreement Highlights
Essential elements of the Master Agreement include provisions on wages, benefits, grievance and arbitration procedures and workplace rights. AFSCME Council 13 is composed of 57 local unions that includes nearly 62,000 workers and supports an empowered voice in representing its members.
Wages: Local District Councils negotiate for pay increases every three years after conducting surveys and analyzing data for wages paid by the Commonwealth and other area employers. The last wage increase provided by the District Council was in 2021.
Benefits: In addition to competitive compensation, covered employees earn 10 to 24 days of paid vacation, 12 to 18 paid holidays, 2 to 10 sick leave days and 12 to 14 paid personal days. Other peripheral benefits include group insurance coverage, a defined benefit pension plan, a 457 deferred compensation plan and access to the Council 13 Benefit Fund.
Grievance Procedures: The Master Agreement mandates that grievances be handled at the proper level and requires implementation of a formal grievance procedure to resolve disputes as quickly as possible. That grievance resolution process is overseen by the Council 13 Grievance Committee, which is made up of members from each of the 57 District Councils. If the grievance has not been resolved at the pre-arbitration step, a list of seven potential arbitrators will be submitted to the parties within 90 days. Only four arbitrators will be named on the final list. The arbitrator has a 60-day period to make an award beginning with the receipt of the last witness statement or document. The award is final and binding on the parties.
Workplace Rights: The District Councils include a variety of positions throughout the Commonwealth and affect a workforce that works in over 12 municipalities. Duties may include custodians, clerical workers, fleet maintenance workers, among other positions. Members of the Council are protected under the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board regulations.
Master Agreement Negotiation Mechanics
The negotiation process for the Master Agreement is as follows, as set forth in Article 2 of the AFSCME Council 13 Master Agreement (Master Agreement): The current Master Agreement is the result of negotiations between the Coalition and the Commonwealth. Negotiations for the successor Master Agreement are conducted in the spring prior to the expiration of the Master Agreement, which is currently June 30. Negotiations for a successor Master Agreement involve a Steering Committee representing each affiliate. From that Steering Committee, an Executive Committee is elected. The Steering Committee elects officers of the Executive Committee and they meet to prepare proposals to be bargained with the Commonwealth. The committee is assisted by Council staff and Coalition representatives. The full Steering Committee or the Executive Committee may propose amendments to the Master Agreement which must be bargained with the Commonwealth. Bargaining is facilitated by Council staff and Coalition representatives. Where possible, Labor-Management Committees recommend language for inclusion in the Master Agreement. At the end of negotiations, if there is agreement on all issues, the Council submits a Summary of Tentative Agreements to the Steering Committee Chair and the Council President for approval. Once approved, the Council distributes the Summary to the Committee Bargainers. Generally, the Council then distributes the Summary of Tentative Agreements to the Locals. Council staff will again summarize the agreement and ask for recommendations from the Council, Executive Committee, and Committee Bargainers. The Coalition will then prepare the agreement primary and secondary to it. As required, the primary agreement is submitted to Council and the secondary agreements are distributed to the Council Locals.
How the Master Agreement Affects Public Employees
Among AFSCME members and other employees of the Commonwealth, the Master Agreement represents a collective bargaining contract with their employer. As such, it is part of the legal framework under which they earn a living and support their families.
The right to bargain and the ability to collectively negotiate the terms of their employment is critically important to public employees. Before they had this right, many public employee unions were forced to take the government employer to court for every issue – wages, hours, fringes, workplace safety – to achieve workplace improvements. Negotiating these workplace improvements through a lawful, democratic process is more beneficial for public employees than taking to the streets in protest. And even more beneficial is their ability to police and enforce the terms and conditions of that contract. However, enforcement is only as strong as the police force behind it.
For public sector contracts, the enforcement power comes from the state law that gives them the right to bargain in the first place. With the stroke of a pen, the state can strip public employees of their right to bargain, impose a "do-nothing" and "take what we give you" contract on them and give government officials a free pass should they choose not to follow or meet the terms of that contract.
Public employees’ job security, wages , benefits and working conditions hinge on their right to collectively bargain and the state laws that guarantee them that right. Without those rights, all bets are off. Decades of job security can vanish as quickly as it was granted. Health care costs can skyrocket as it often does in the private sector. And off-the-clock work and overtime can go unpaid as it does all too frequently for public sector non-union workers.
Collective bargaining in the public sector creates benefits for the public that outweigh the cost to the taxpayer. Outcomes such as a variety of leave and overtime accruals or affordable health care coverage improve not only the lives of public employees, but they benefit the public as well by ensuring a stable, well-staffed, trained workforce to provide the services communities rely on.
The negotiated wages, benefits, grievance procedures and workplace health and safety in the Master Agreement are taken for granted by many public employees. However, the value of these provisions should not be underestimated. They do nothing less than ensure that public employees have fair compensation for their work, a safe workplace to perform that work in and a process to grieve and rectify any disputes that may arise. And unlike the private sector, where some employees may feel safe asserting their right to discuss pay and benefits, all of these workplace improvements hinge on the ability of public employees to speak up against their employer without fear of retaliation.
Recent Developments or Modifications of the Agreement
As with any labor agreement, the AFSCME Council 13 Master Agreement is subject to regular updates to reflect changing laws, practices, or even union leadership. Such updates may be collective changes, or exist in the form of individual memos or agreements with specific bargaining units. In this section, we will outline some of the notable changes in the past few years.
Within the last year, there has been a notable decision regarding pay for personal time, or PTO, for those union members on family medical leave. In the past, employees were not compensated for personal time that they used without paid leave; however, the increase in unpaid leave and ACA roles has changed that perception. The new decision states that such employees who would have otherwise worked and not used paid leave would have been paid their PTO for those missed hours.
The specifics of the agreement are as follows: Employees must use PTO first, and if they do not have sufficient paid time off, then the balance of unpaid time will be paid using PTO, up to three days. The agreement itself qualifies that, "The amount of PTO used shall mirror the amount of time that the employee is scheduled to work during the first three days of leave." Part 1 of the Text agrees to pay those hours not used for full pay, but only for the first week for which the employee has gone without a paycheck.
While this is certainly a positive step for AFSCME members, it does highlight another potential area of conflict. Most of the staff at AFSCME is paid bi-weekly – 75 hours in a pay period. This means that employees miss 37.5 hours of pay during their first week out. The question then becomes how to rectify that. Are union members entitled to 75 hours of pay over the first balance of days, or are the three-day paid portions valid for only up to 37.5 hours?
Complicated again the relationship between the union and the various districts, but not impossible to solve. There is sure to be some method of division that may leave union members a little disappointed. For example, can an employee take off two days and return for the last three? While this may be an inconvenience for some union members, the good news is that they are required to be paid for it.
How to Locate and Decipher the Master Agreement
Many union members and the general public do have limited access to the internal information contained in the AFSCME web portal. For members of the Local 2623, they can visit AFSCME local 2623 or click here (AFSCME Local 2623) to log into the AFSCME Local 2623 portal. For those who already have an account, just log into the AFSCME Local 2623 Portal using your email address and password until you see the AFSCME Member Drop Down Menu . Under the AFSCME Member Drop Down Menu, you’ll find the Local 2623 Portal and the AFSCME Council 13 Master Agreement. You can click on those sites to access the AFSCME Council 13 Master Agreement.
For everyone else, you may not have direct access to the Master Agreement online. You may request a physical copy from your AFSCME Local 2623 leadership or AFSCME Council 13 Leadership.