Fighting to Stop Layoffs, Benefit Cuts, and Loss of Workers’ Rights
by Matt O'Connor on July 27thState Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC) representatives again met today to review their individual unions’ plans for voting on the revised tentative agreement to save members’ jobs and benefits. At the same time, the Malloy Administration announced that another 1,157 layoff notices have been issued to Executive and Judicial Branch employees since last Wednesday. With over 3,000 state workers facing unemployment, union leaders are working hard to have the complete ratification process finished by Thursday, August 18.
As always, each of the coalition’s unions will determine their own internal method for voting on the revised SEBAC tentative agreement. Their executive board or equivalent governing body is responsible for choosing the process that best serves their members’ interests.
Unions whose elected leaders have so far decided that the revised tentative agreement will be sent out for a ratification vote by their full membership include:
- • Administrative and Residual Union (A&R)/AFT
- • AFT Connecticut – 2 bargaining units representing:
- o University Health Professionals
o Judicial Professional Employees
- • Council 4, American Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees – 8 bargaining units representing:
- o Corrections Officers
- o Clerical Employees
- o Human/Social Services Employees
- o Criminal Justice Employees
- o Judicial Non-Professional Employees
- o Technical Colleges Administrators
- o Charter Oak College Professional Employees
- o Division of Higher Education Administrators
- • Congress of Connecticut Community Colleges/SEIU Local 1973
- • Connecticut Association of Prosecutors
- • Connecticut Employees Union Independent/SEIU Local 511
- • Connecticut State Police Union
- • CSEA SEIU Local 2001 – all 7 bargaining units representing:
- o Engineering, Scientific, and Technical Employees
- o Institutional Educators
- o Correction Supervisors
- o Education Administrators
- o Police Inspectors
- o Supervising Judicial Marshals
- o State Police Commissioned Officers
- • International Brotherhood of Police Officers/SEIU Local 731
- • New England Healthcare Employees Union, District 1199/SEIU
These units make up over 83% of the total membership of the Coalition.
Some of the unions not listed here may have determined that ratification will be by their intermediate leadership bodies. Others may not have decided their ratification process yet. Members, as always, should seek clarification from their union leaders if there are any questions.
Leaders of all SEBAC unions remain focused on getting accurate and relevant details out to their members as quickly as possible. In meetings and surveys after the previous agreement failed to pass, many members have said that they were exposed to misinformation and misrepresentation of the consequences of a “no” vote. And of course it is important that members understand the changes in the revised agreement that respond to some of the concerns members had raised.
Without an agreement in place, thousands more state workers will receive layoff notices and the governor’s proposed budget will permanently take away public services that residents rely on. That means fewer troopers responding to traffic incidents, fewer direct care providers for the developmentally disabled, and fewer snow plow drivers to keep the roads clear in winter.
Click here to access the revised tentative agreement and learn more about what’s at stake for union members, their families, and the public they serve.
Click here to read the latest membership updates, access news coverage, and take action to protect public services and the working families that deliver them.
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