New Contract, Still no Transparency

The newest state contract with AFSCME—the union representing more than 30,000 state workers—was signed earlier this week.

The contract was agreed to in April, then ratified by union members in May. This new deal (along with a much smaller UFCW contract) will cost taxpayers a reported $23 million in new costs annually.

Yet citizens still cannot get copies of this contract online.

It is now 115 days since the first report of an agreement, and 87 days since union members voted on the deal.

So why aren’t the contracts being shared with taxpayers?

Because the new agreement is only for one year, Gov. Wolf and AFSCME leaders—who contributed more than $1.2 million to Wolf’s campaign—will continue negotiations on yet another deal. The negotiations will occur behind closed doors.

Thankfully, legislation that would shed a light on this process—and give taxpayers an estimate of the cost of union contracts before they are signed—sits before the state House now. It is critical that Pennsylvanians have more transparency in these secret union deals.