Gov. wants more state worker concessions
By Keith M. Phaneuf
Journal Inquirer
Published: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 10:09 AM EST
HARTFORD — Though she has little leverage to force further concessions, Gov. M. Jodi Rell on Monday asked state employee unions to return to the bargaining table to help balance the deficit-plagued state budget.
And though a spokesman for the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition said the unions would be willing to discuss their ideas to make government more cost-efficient, the prospects of any further savings coming from employee givebacks appeared murky, at best.
“As the state budget continues to deteriorate amid falling revenues and a sluggish national economy I continue to do all I can under my authority to bring state government spending in line with fiscal reality,” Rell said. “That includes finding more labor savings.
“Employee costs are a huge part of our budget, and my administration and SEBAC must move quickly and in good faith to identify and mutually agree on further savings,” the governor added.
The governor and SEBAC negotiated a deal that the legislature ratified in the spring to save $700 million total — $100 million in 2008-09, and $300 million both this fiscal year and next.
The deal, which legislators from both parties have criticized as asking too little from state workers, features several components:
• About 90 percent of the state’s roughly 50,000 unionized workers must forfeit one of two annual raises they were to receive both this fiscal year and next, or some can forfeit both in one year. For most, this involves giving up an inflationary adjustment in one year, and a step increase or a longevity payment in another.
• Seven unpaid days off must be taken over this fiscal year and next.
• Employee contributions toward health insurance increased about $350 per year.
• Copayments for prescription drugs increased from $3 to $6 for generic medicines and from $5 to $10 for brand names.
• And starting this year, new employees and those with less than five years of experience must contribute 3 percent of their annual salaries to help fund their retirement health insurance benefit.
In exchange for these concessions, all but two bargaining units are exempted from layoffs this fiscal year and next. The two that aren’t involved include about 5,200 prison guards and other prison staff and about 600 of their unionized supervisors. These two bargaining units didn’t agree to cancel raises or take unpaid days off.
The concession plan included other savings, but those dollars didn’t come from state workers.
Rell and lawmakers authorized a retirement incentive program to encourage veteran workers to take retirement with additional benefits so many could be replaced by less experienced and lower-paid workers.
Unions also gave the state permission to reduce its payment into the state worker pension fund, though the actual retirement benefits that must be paid out aren’t reduced.
In addition, the deal said the state can reduce its payment by an additional $100 million both this fiscal year and next provided estimated budget revenue drops by at least $300 million. Democratic lawmakers say that condition already has been reached, while the administration argues the state is still tens of millions of dollars below that trigger level.
So while Rell can reduce payments into a pension fund that fiscal analysts already are saying is badly underfunded, can she get labor to consider more givebacks?
West Hartford lawyer Daniel E. Livingston, the chief negotiator for SEBAC, said labor is willing to discuss ways to make government more efficient, but that doesn’t involve state workers giving up salaries or benefits.
Livingston said the unions tried to discuss other issues it believes could help state government save money, such as voluntary schedule changes and problems with inefficiency caused by turning to private contractors. “They were win-win solutions that were good for public service, good for the members, and good for the people of the state,” he said Monday, adding the administration didn’t seem interested in hearing these ideas last spring. “If the governor wants to sit down, we’ll discuss these points.”
Copyright © 2009 – Journal Inquirer
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