Associated Press
HARRISBURG — Leaders of the union for Pennsylvania’s state prison guards are suing over a 2009 deal struck by then-Governor Ed Rendell that diverted a large surplus from the trust fund that pays health benefits for state workers.
Four executive committee members of the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association have filed a lawsuit in county court in Harrisburg. It seeks to recover $226 million and remove several trustees from the Pennsylvania Employee Benefits Trust Fund.
At issue is the April 2009 deal that let the state reduce payments into the fund in order to avoid furloughs of state workers.
The prison guards say their union never went along, and that a promise to repay the money was not kept. The defendants include state-appointed trustees and officials with other unions.