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1997 Rhode Island Attorney General Reports and Opinions 1 (1997)

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DEPARTMENT OF ATTORNEY GENERAL
150 South Main Street, P'rovidence, RI 02903
(401) 274-4400
Jeffrev B. Pine-.luornev General
May 6, 1997
Official Opinion No. 97-01
The Honorable Lincoln Almond
Governor of the State of Rhode Island
State House
Providence, Rhode Island 02903
Dear Governor Almond:
I am pleased to respond to your request for an advisory opinion
concerning the provisions of a recently negotiated collective
bargaining agreement between the State and the Rhode Island
Laborers' District Council. You have indicated that the
Department of Administration, acting in its capacity as the
appropriate office in state government to conduct collective
bargaining with unions representing state employees, recently
negotiated a contract with the Rhode Island Laborers' District
Council. In that agreement, which I understand has not yet
been executed, the State would allow the Union an option to
assign a previously negotiated wage increase to a separate fund
administered by the Laborers' International Union of North
America. The specific contract language reads:
It is specifically acknowledged and agreed to
that the Union may, on behalf of its members,
accept any across the board wage increase
provided for above or a portion thereof and
assign the remainder of said wage increase, on
behalf of its members to the Laborers'
International Union of North America National
(INDUSTRIAL) Pension Fund. Should the Union
elect the assignment option, it shall notify the
Director of Administration of this election, in
writing, no later than the preceding May 1. The
parties further acknowledge and agree that the
cost of wages and any assignment of wages
(excepting administrative costs of implementing
and processing the assignment) shall not exceed
the negotiated wage increase for the applicable
fiscal year.

TDD-453-04 10