City councilors were rewarded on Thursday for putting their faith in Brockton employee unions to come to the bargaining table on health insurance.
Mayor Linda Balzotti inked a deal with Brockton’s 17 employee unions in a sweeping 4-year health insurance deal.
Brockton will save an estimated $28 million over the life of the deal, which requires City Council approval to adopt four years of coalition bargaining with the unions.
The council is set to discuss the agreement at a special meeting scheduled for Monday.
“I’m just very happy that we have been able to come to a resolution and that everybody worked so hard on this on both sides of the table,” Balzotti said in an interview Thursday.
The deal provides cost certainty on health insurance payments covering city employees and retirees. Brockton, which self insures, budgeted $49.8 million for 2012-2013 for health insurance – about 17 percent of the city’s general fund. The percentage has increased from 11 percent of the city’s budget in 2001-2002.
“It’s going to be a tremendous help in establishing budgets for the next several years,” Balzotti said.
Coalition bargaining allows the unions to bargain for health insurance plans collectively as a single committee.
The memorandum of understanding signed between the city and the unions allows coalition bargaining through the life of the deal, which expires June 30, 2017.