Three unions have challenged an Arizona budget provision that requires many government workers to make bigger contributions to their retirement benefits while providing employers with corresponding savings.

The lawsuit filed Thursday says the changes to the Arizona State Retirement System violate state constitutional protections for contracts. The filing seeks to retain commitments that it contends were made to individual state and local government employees when they joined the retirement system.
The benefits are not negotiated labor agreements. Arizona does not have collective bargaining for state workers.

The changes to the retirement system are similar to those approved by several other states.

The Arizona lawsuit is backed by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and two unions representing school employees- the Arizona Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers.

"We are asking the state to honor its contract with its employees and provide a fair level of security and independence after finishing a career of educating Arizona's students," said Andrew Morrill, president of the education association.

Under the challenged budget provision, more than 200,000 workers will pay 53 percent of the total contributions to the Arizona State Retirement System and decrease the amount paid by their employers to 47 percent. The split previously was 50-50.

Arizona lawmakers included the contribution changes in a budget-balancing plan approved in April by the Legislature and Gov. Jan Brewer to close a projected $1.1 billion shortfall for the fiscal year that began July 1.