Welcome to the bargaining diary for the SHIFT FAMCO is demanding on behalf of Monmouth faculty: “Sound Health Insurance for Faculty Today!” (SHIFT). This page is your one-stop for updates on our ongoing work to secure more affordable and effective healthcare for Monmouth University faculty. Access to high-quality, affordable healthcare is high on the list of faculty concerns, and the crisis of the pandemic and inflation make affordable, accessible, and high quality healthcare that much more urgent. Below is a snapshot of where we’ve been and where we’re going with our healthcare work. 

The Healthcare Faculty Need – For three years, Faculty representatives have shared Faculty’s healthcare concerns with administration (in regular labor management committee meetings about healthcare and in bargaining sessions). Monmouth Faculty have made it clear they and their families need 1) lower overall premiums, 2) an out of network benefit option for everyone no matter their plan, and 3) a choice between a high and no/low deductible plan for all faculty. This is particularly important because new employees can only choose the high-deductible plan.

The Healthcare Timeline – In October 2021 after FAMCO’s healthcare consultant provided an analysis suggesting that the administration has consistently overcharged employees for our healthcare benefits, FAMCO won a one year freeze of healthcare costs. We also won an agreement with the administration to negotiate healthcare before January 2023 to secure changes to our healthcare benefits program that benefit faculty and their families.

The Path to Better Healthcare – That agreement also established a Healthcare Labor Management Committee (LMC) in which FAMCO Faculty reps meet regularly with the administration to review healthcare costs, cost saving options (including drug costs), and new plan designs so we can prepare to negotiate healthcare changes before January 2023. Just last week, FAMCO initiated the formal demand to bargain healthcare plan changes and employee healthcare costs, expecting to begin on or around September 14th.

The Turn – Along that path, the administration has not made it easy for faculty to get better healthcare. FAMCO faculty on the LMC have repeatedly made information requests for relevant healthcare benefits data from administration so we can effectively understand the estimated healthcare costs for 2023 and bargain for faculty. The administration repeatedly made excuses about why they do not need to give this important information to faculty. Our concern is that the administration is using a delay-delay-delay strategy to avoid delivering the full range of information we need so that we are not fully informed about healthcare costs when we settle on 2023 healthcare, perhaps so the administration can pocket the savings of switching to self-insurance instead of sharing them with faculty and their families.

The Healthcare Faculty Deserve – Faculty deserve high quality healthcare at affordable costs. Given that Monmouth University has both overcharged faculty for healthcare, and has benefited from substantial savings by moving to self-insurance–among other changes–all employees at MU deserve to pay even less for healthcare than they did when FAMCO won a one-year rate freeze for faculty.

To Support This Fight: The summer heat is on! As you get your classes ready for September, keep an eye out here for updates on the SHIFT in faculty healthcare, including the date of our first bargaining session where you can turn out in your FAMCO red shirt to support our team as they fight to win the high quality and affordable healthcare that faculty deserve!