Last night, Tyrone Borough Council voted 6-0 to reject a grievance filled by four retired Tyrone police officers concerning the change in health insurance benefits they are receiving.
When the new police contract was signed, the current police union agreed to accept the same health insurance that Tyrone Borough provides to its non-uniformed employees. The borough also changed the health insurance coverage for the retired officers.
“We never expected them to accept our grievance,” said George Sessaman, one of the retired officers. “Maybe it is possible that a court room believes that contracts should be honored.”
The previous contract had the retired officers receiving Blue Cross/Blue Shield medical coverage. With the new coverage, Health America, which went into effect in June 2003, the retired officers are paying more than they previously paid.
“It used to cost $3 for generic co-pay prescriptions and $5 for non-generic now costs $5 and $25 which is a big difference,” said Sessaman. “The one blood pressure medication that I was prescribed, this carrier will not pay for it. Since the change in insurance carriers, I have paid about $300 more than I had in prescriptions and doctor visit co-pays. That is nothing compared to one of the other retired officers.”
The officers will continue their process with the matter heading for arbitration.
“We’ve been this route before with the borough,” said Sessaman. “We had to go to arbitration to get the contract we retired under. The borough knows that we have to pay for the attorney’s out of our pocket. Take a look at who has more money, four retired officers or the borough. They are going to try to wait us out.”
Things have been quiet since the May meeting of council in which the retired officers approached the members asking that the contract be honored.
“Just because we are quiet doesn’t mean we are happy,” said Sessaman. “We knew in advance that if we filed a grievance it would automatically be rejected. When we approached council before, we knew going in what the answer would be.”
Sessaman and the other officers will next head to arbitration to try to get the matter settled.
“Talking to the council is like trying to talk a first grade teacher out of making you learn to write,” said Sessaman. “You know it is not going to happen. I just wonder, if the council enters into a contract to buy a truck, do they break the contract the first time they don’t like the truck? That is what they are doing with us.”
