In This Together CT

As members of the unions in the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC) prepare for ratification votes this month, we must confront the politicians and anti-worker forces who want to tear down public employees and take away their benefits. They are seizing on some of the fears of state public service workers to try to generate votes against the tentative agreement that saves our members’ jobs and benefits.

And they are using the SustiNet legislation now being debated in the General Assembly as their chief tool of misinformation and fear-mongering. People are entitled to their own opinions and to vote as they honestly believe is fair and right. But people also should have the facts at their disposal.

To suggest that the Sustinet legislation, which is the latest version of the fight for universal healthcare, is somehow connected to the SEBAC 2011 tentative agreement is simply a lie. Let us say it clearly once again: SustiNet is not part of SEBAC 2011 in any way, shape or form.

Nothing in the ratification of SEBAC 2011 has anything to do whatsoever with whether SustiNet ever becomes the law. No matter what happens with SEBAC 2011, no state law about SustiNet or healthcare pooling could affect state employee benefits or our plan without the ratification of SEBAC’s member unions.

The labor movement has supported healthcare as a fundamental right of all working families since at least 1935. That’s part of how we won healthcare for state employees. To suggest that being a state employee labor leader, and serving on a volunteer board to promote healthcare for all working families is a “conflict of interest” is an embarrassment.

SEBAC union leaders have always been clear and unequivocal: We oppose any legislation that removes our healthcare from collective bargaining, diminishes our benefits, or negatively impacts our plan. We would never recommend giving our consent of to any plan that does any of those things. We never have, and we never will.

Let’s all be honest with each other; there are outside forces who would love to see our tentative agreement fail and who would welcome the chaos that will ensue from thousands of layoffs and destructive cuts to public services. We cannot allow that to happen.

Click here to watch our latest Questions and Answers videos on the agreement. Learn more about SEBAC’s campaign for a better budget and a livable state with great public services by visiting www.InThisTogetherCT.org.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 2nd, 2011 at 2:47 pm and is filed under Campaign News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.