Employees taking the offer accepted a substantial reduction in their pensions in return for leaving state service below the age of 55. They were also required to sign agreements making their retirement irrevocable and waiving any rights to reemployment. Additionally, they had to make the decision with less than a week’s — sometimes less than a day’s — notice. These conditions were unilaterally set by management.

The offer was first made on or around August 15, just three days before the members of the unions in the coalition ratified the SEBAC 2011 agreement.

While objecting to these offers — and their conditions being unilaterally set by management — Union leaders specifically challenged them as:

• (1) Unfair to employees who learned about them, because it forced those employees to make a critical life-changing decision without full information or the opportunity to change their minds; and
• (2) Unfair to the vast majority of employees, who management never informed about the offer at all and thus were never given any opportunity to decide.

Union leaders expressed willingness at the time to allow the process to proceed unchallenged on the condition that any such offer be made available to all eligible state employees. They also insisted that employees be given adequate time to consider the offer or be afforded the opportunity to rescind their retirements within 30 days. The Malloy Administration refused to modify any terms of their unilateral offer.

Union leaders had no choice but to file the SPP and demand an immediate stop to the administration’s violation of its obligation to bargain, and the unfair treatment of employees. We are confident that the State will be compelled to begin discussions over the matter and hope to reach agreement on a resolution that is acceptable to the members of our unions.

Click here to access the State Prohibitive Practice (SPP).

Click here to read the SEBAC 2011 agreement and learn more about union members’ efforts to take charge of their future for themselves and the public they serve.

Union leaders are responding to news reports that thousands of appointed officials, managers, and top agency officials would receive upwards of $7 million in longevity bonuses in October. The State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC) is filing a grievance on behalf of the front-line members of its constituent unions for allowing the payments to go forward.

At issue is the understanding, under the recently ratified SEBAC 2011 agreement, that managers would make longevity sacrifices at least comparable to those made by the front-line workforce. Longevity payments were frozen for two years — but preserved over the long-term — for members of the unions in SEBAC. By paying the full October longevity bonus, some managers will never make equivalent sacrifices — particularly those who retire shortly, or those who already have 25 years of service.

SEBAC is filing the grievance because it believes that the comparable or greater sacrifice understanding must apply in the short-term as well as the long term, especially since as implemented there are some managers who woulnd’t sacrifice in longevity at all.

Click here to read the SEBAC 2011 agreement and learn more about union members’ efforts to take charge of their future for themselves and the public they serve.

Permanent employees in those units who have been laid-off should have already received letters from their agencies returning them to work on September 1 — tomorrow. Additionally, permanent employees who had received layoff notices are in the process of receiving letters having them rescinded.

Governor Dannel P. Malloy has announced he is going ahead with layoffs in the two units that did not ratify their companion agreements.

With the restoration of many programs and services, a number of non-permanent employees  — trainees, per diems, those in their working test periods — are also being recalled or having their notices rescinded. This is not a guarantee from the agreement that leaders of the unions in the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC) reached with the Malloy Administration. The job security provisions apply only to permanent employees; rather, it is a positive side effect resulting from the restoration of critical programs and services that had always been our goal.

There have not been any reports of problems or glitches with the return of laid-off workers to work so far. However members who do have issues should bring them to the attention of their union leadership, such as their elected delegates or stewards.

Click here to read the ratified agreement and learn more about union members’ efforts to take charge of their future for themselves and the public they serve.

Of the approximately 3,000 union members who received pink slips, several hundred with shorter than usual notice periods have already been laid-off. Placing them back on the job is not just a priority for the individual workers and their families, but for the public they serve.

Click here to watch video of union leaders addressing the State Capitol press Friday afternoon where they urged the immediate return to work of laid-off union members with job protection.

Leaders have also been reaching out to union members with layoff notices still on the job whose bargaining units voted for job protection.

In a letter to the governor on Thursday, union leaders urged the immediate rescission of all layoff notices for eligible members. However, Office of Policy and Management Secretary Ben Barnes announced Friday that formal recall of notices would be delayed until the TA and its companion unit agreements are approved by the General Assembly. In the interim, they have postponed the effective date of all layoff notices until September 1, the day after the General Assembly is expected to officially approve the agreements.

The agreements will be automatically approved unless the General Assembly calls itself into special session before August 31. House Speaker Christopher Donovan (D-Meriden) and Senate President Donald Williams (D-Brooklyn) have announced they do not plan to schedule a vote, and will therefore allow the agreements to be approved automatically on September 1.

Union members with job protection who received layoff notices should report to work as regularly scheduled while the official rescission letters are sent out.

Secretary Barnes also confirmed Friday a halt to a number of service shut-downs and program closures union leaders had urged be restored upon ratification of the cost savings agreement. He confirmed that the historic Connecticut River ferries will not be docked, Department of Motor Vehicles offices will not be closed, and sports, art, music, and social programs in vocational technical high schools will not be eliminated.

There are a number of additional public services and programs whose status now that union members have stepped-up to save nearly $1.6 billion in taxpayer dollars remains uncertain. We are committed to their full restoration in order to preserve and protect Connecticut’s quality of life.

Click here to read the ratified agreement and learn more about union members’ efforts to take charge of their future for themselves and the public they serve.

Union members have voted overwhelmingly to ratify the revised SEBAC 2011 tentative agreement, and this morning it was adopted by representatives from the coalition of unions.

Nearly 26,000 members voted YES — that’s more than twice as many as voted no, and more than five times as many that were threatened with layoffs.

Fourteen out of 15 SEBAC unions voted YES in favor of the agreement — that’s over a 98% per capita vote taking into account the membership size of each union. And 32 out of 34 bargaining units — representing over 97% of our state union workers — voted YES to also ratify their bargaining unit contracts.

Now that the voting results are known, we are moving ahead to the future. Today, we are sending a letter to Governor Dannel P Malloy calling on him to reverse all the layoffs, rescind layoff notices and restore critical services. We are also urging an immediate start of the joint processes to streamline wasteful layers of management and implement front-line workers’ recommendations on cost savings.

Click here to access the letter.

One SEBAC union will not complete its count until tomorrow, but the outcome of this process is clear. Our members have spoken decisively and overwhelmingly. 

Click here to access a spreadsheet with the final vote count for each union by bargaining unit, reflecting the per capita vote results (UPDATED August 19th).

http://inthistogetherct.org/wp​-content/uploads/2011/07/Revis​ed_SEBAC_2011_TA.pdf

Be sure to check out the Common Questions & Answers at the back.

If you have any technical questions, please contact your local union representative.

Responding to the confusion, the Office of Policy and Management’s director of labor relations distributed a memo yesterday stating:

• “…permanent, Executive branch employees should be told that – (1) if the Revised 2011 SEBAC Agreement is ratified AND (2) the individual bargaining unit agreement of which the employee is a member is also ratified, the employee will be granted the job security protection of the Agreement…
• “…this means that regardless of the wording of their layoff notice/letter (e.g., lack of work, organization, etc.), the employee will be returned to work if they have been laid off prior to ratification OR their layoff notice will be rescinded, as applicable, subject to the exceptions outlined in the 2011 SEBAC Agreement.”

The memo will be posted in state workplaces and available to all state employees. While it technically applies to the Executive Branch, all of the state’s independent agencies have made the same guarantees if the revised TA is passed and their employees’ bargaining unit contracts are ratified.

Click here to access the memo in a format you can download and print.

The directive was necessary because not only have some state managers disseminated inaccuracies about rescinding layoffs, many in the news media have reported myths and distortions about state employees and the tentative agreement. That’s where member “messengers” are making the difference.

Join the effort help your co-workers make an informed decision about the agreement to save their jobs and benefits. There are varying levels of involvement you can sign up for, depending on your willingness and ability to commit time. Either way, the coalition’s communications committee will be there to prepare you and help you feel confident about participating.

Click here to access a downloadable form you can print and fill out and provide to your union’s elected or staff representative to sign-up as a messenger.

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.

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.

Each of the 15 unions in the coalition will vote to approve or reject the revised tentative agreement, and leaders plan to complete their internal process over the next three weeks. Most leaders plan to present the TA to their full membership for a ratification vote. Some are planning to have elected leadership cast their union’s vote because there are no negative changes in the revised TA as compared to the previous agreement.

Each union will notify its members of its leaders’ ratification or affirmation plans, including applicable information on balloting.

In talks with the governor’s chief negotiator this afternoon, union leaders reaffirmed guarantees that job security language in the tentative agreement would be honored once it is ratified.

No agreement can prevent the governor or the legislature from making changes in government programs or services. The revised TA means a current employee covered by job security protection can’t be laid off. In the case of programmatic or service changes, the state must place the employee in a comparable position — or compensated comparably until such a position is found.

Union leaders will continue to address concerns over the negative impact of program and service shutdowns in Governor Malloy’s alternative budget plan that should be avoided if the tentative agreement is approved.

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.

Following a week of discussions, leaders reached a tentative agreement clarifying that all of the layoff notices issued to state employees over the past three weeks will be rescinded. The agreement also clarifies preservation of the State Employee Health Plan for active and retired state employees. The agreement clarifies unequivocally that the now-dead SustiNet health reform legislation has nothing to do with the plan — and never will.

The united effort of union leaders has produced an agreement that is not just fair for the members they represent. It’s also good for the people they serve, and will restore vital public services cut in the governor’s alternative budget plan. The agreement is the path forward to restoring early intervention services for infants and toddlers, keeping courthouses open, maintaining respite homes for families in need, and avoiding closure of motor vehicle offices.

Click here for the full tentative agreement.

Click here for a document that spells out the differences between the previous tentative agreement and the revised tentative agreement.

Click here for a leaflet that makes clear why state employees need an agreement that saves their jobs, protects their benefits, and preserves the services they deliver.

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.