Miami-based Jackson Health System's attempts to get concessions from its unions remained up in the air as the union leaders sought legal help about what to do. AFSCME and the Service Employees International Union agreed to 5% pay reductions and other changes, but Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez was bothered that the AFSCME contract did not include a provision for giving up $50 in the biweekly checks for something called premium pay. A second issue, according to Jackson executives, is that some AFSCME employees thought that the 5% concession was only for the rest of this year, when in fact it was through the end of the contract, through fiscal 2011.
