CSEA members protest over health plan, escalating fight with Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman

With a towering inflatable rat, protest signs and chants that Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman has "got to go," the health insurance battle between Blakeman and the Civil Service Employees Association Local 830 reached a fever pitch.

Around 250 CSEA members working in county government flanked Old Northern Boulevard in the Village of Roslyn Monday evening just outside Hendrick’s Tavern, where various CSEA members said Blakeman was inside for an event. Along with chants denouncing Blakeman, protesters verbally demanded "no contribution" to their health insurance, and held signs asking the county to "honor our contract" and "show us respect."

"We want Bruce Blakeman to understand that it’s important to us to have our no-cost health insurance," said Jarvis Brown, president of CSEA Region 1, which represents all of Long Island, in a telephone interview en route from a membership meeting to the protest. "We have members here who are on social services, working three and four jobs."

Blakeman, in a statement provided by a spokesperson, said “union leaders would be better off spending their time at the bargaining table rather than picketing. There is a balancing act between providing quality healthcare to our employees and affordability for our taxpayers.”

The fight between Blakeman and CSEA, the county’s largest union, over new health insurance escalated in recent months since the announcement that the members’ current state-sponsored health insurance plan, Excelsior, will be discontinued at the end of this year. The move from Empire, Local 830’s old plan, to Excelsior was projected to save the county some $280 million over the life of CSEA's 13-year contract. 

The union and the county have "had conversations back and forth" earlier this year, Brown said. But state CSEA president Mary Sullivan sued Blakeman and the County Legislature over members’ health coverage, a rare step for the union.

CSEA claims in its lawsuit that the Blakeman administration offered members the Anthem Blue Access PPO Plan or an Anthem High Deductible Health Plan, which would require them to pay $5,000 in out-of-pocket costs before coverage starts should they be enrolled in a family plan.

Brown said "no-cost" for health insurance is guaranteed to employees according to CSEA Local 830's contract, the language of which was spelled out on an LED sign among the crowd Monday evening.

"Right now, we’re not really talking at this point," Brown said of negotiations. "We’ve talked about going back into a [New York State Health Insurance Program] plan, but the amount that’s being asked for the premium is really too much for our members to afford."

CSEA is asking a judge to put the employees back on the Empire health plan, which it says provides lower out-of-pocket costs.

Nearly an hour into the protest, police asked organizers to remove the "Scabby" rat, as generators, including the one blowing it up, are allowed in the village only with a permit. But the protesters continued their chanting, some enjoying Dunkin', most still clinging to their signs, including one homemade sign that declared, "WE KEEP THE COUNTY RUNNING." They departed around 8:15 p.m., when Brown said they learned Blakeman left the restaurant.

Brown expects to share news on the litigation with his membership on Tuesday, and subsequently continue negotiations with the county.

"Hopefully, after the judge makes his decision tomorrow, we’ll be able to have a conversation," Brown said. "I believe right now the best and only plan for our members is a NYSHIP plan ... at no cost. So the NYSHIP Empire plan is the direction we want to go."

With Candice Ferrette