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Mail or fax to:

CWA / MSWU Local 6355
3150 Roger Pl.
St. Louis, MO 63116

Fax: (314) 664-4355

United Foster Parents of Missouri

DSS/DHSS BARGAINING IS PREPARING TO BEGIN
READ THE CURRENT CONTRACT HERE

AND SUBMIT A BARGAINING PROPOSAL BY CLICKING HERE

2009 State Legislative Summary

2009 State Legislative Summary CWA knew going into the 2009 legislative session that we were facing an uphill battle. The economic depression that has resulted in hundred of thousands of workers losing their jobs and hundreds of thousands of families losing their homes was also taking a large chunk out of Missouri's budget. States across the nation resorted to layoffs and furloughs of state worker jobs to try to balance the budget and we entered 2009 determined to prevent any layoffs or furloughs of our already overburdened members.

Governor Nixon proposed a difficult budget that promised to fulfill his campaign promises of keeping the cost of education low and restoring many of the Medicaid cuts made by his predecessor Matt Blunt. We were pleased that in his budget he averted making any cuts to frontline state workers jobs. We were even happier that he proposed a 3% COLA for state workers as well as an increase in the clothing voucher for Missouri's foster parents.

By the time the Republican controlled Missouri House finished with the budget, we were decidedly less pleased. The Missouri House, led by budget chairman Allen Icet, had cut all the funding for the state worker COLA, all the funding for the clothing reimbursement rate, all the funding to restore Medicaid to 50% of poverty, and proposed to cut nearly 100 frontline jobs from DSS and DHSS.

CWA members quickly took action calling their Senators to demand that the budget not be balanced on our backs. Thanks to funding made by the Federal Economic Recovery Act (which we had pushed for back in January and early February), the Senate was able to restore funding for frontline workers jobs and to increase the number of uninsured Missourians receiving Medicaid. Disappointingly they neglected to include the state worker COLA or the foster parents clothing voucher increase in their budget request.

As the House and Senate work to reconcile their differences CWA is pleased that our number one objective of preventing layoffs or furloughs appears to have been accomplished. We remain frustrated that the Republican controlled House has too often chosen to play politics with the state budget rather then propose real solutions for working families. We know that 2010 looks like a difficult year ahead for us and we must remain focused on building our political power to make real changes in the Missouri legislature.