The Newton Teachers Association has filed a labor charge alleging Newton and its school district dropped GLP-1 weight-loss drug coverage without bargaining first.
The charge, disclosed in a May 17 NTA bulletin, was filed with the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations. The city emailed teachers enrolled in Blue Cross Blue Shield plans on or around Feb. 23 that it would stop covering GLP-1 medications for patients without diabetes after Aug. 1, according to the filing.
Those drugs had been covered as Tier 3 medications with a $55 co-pay. The NTA alleges the city violated Sections 10(a)(5) and 10(a)(1) of state labor law by failing to give advance notice of a change to a mandatory subject of bargaining.
Blue Cross Blue Shield left the decision to cover GLP-1 drugs to individual districts, the NTA said in a Sunday, Sept. 6 bulletin. Newton chose not to pay for a higher-cost "rider" that would have maintained coverage.
"We are really sorry that our members are being put through this," NTA President Mike Zilles and bulletin editor Ryan Normandin wrote Sunday, Sept. 6. "It's not right, and I wish the city shared our urgency in trying to fix this."
The union proposed a workaround: let members pay out of pocket for GLP-1 drugs and submit for reimbursement, arguing the cost would be less than what the city saved by cutting coverage. That plan fell through. Drug manufacturers' fine print bars such arrangements, the NTA said.
During the most recent negotiation session on the GLP-1 dispute, the city agreed to invite a Blue Cross Blue Shield team to answer the union's questions about costs. The NTA said it hoped that meeting would happen within three weeks of Sept. 6.
No response from Newton Public Schools or the city regarding the charge appeared in public records as of publication. Superintendent Anna Nolin and Mayor Marc Laredo have not commented publicly on the dispute.
New FMLA benefit adds 15 paid family-care days
A separate benefit negotiated in the NTA's last contract took effect Tuesday, Sept. 1. Eligible employees in Units A, B, C and E can now use up to 15 additional paid sick days to care for a spouse, child or parent with a condition qualifying under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
Combined with the existing 14 sick days and two personal days, the change brings the total paid days available for family care to 31. Those days count as creditable service toward retirement. Employees cannot draw from the sick leave bank to cover them.
NTA bargaining team meets Sept. 15
The NTA's bargaining team is scheduled to meet Tuesday, Sept. 15 at the union office, 29 Crafts St., Suite 470, to discuss ground rules and the School Committee's counter-proposal. The union exchanged ground rules proposals with the School Committee over the summer and hopes to exchange full contract proposals by October.
On Wednesday, Sept. 16, the city has invited union leaders from across Newton to meet with Mayor Laredo, city Chief Financial Officer Maureen Lemieux and members of the city's bargaining team. Nearly every city union will begin negotiating new contracts this fall.
