In This Together CT

http://www.journalinquirer.com/articles/2011/10/04/politics_and_government/doc4e8a0057edaaa010768840.txt

By Ed Jacovino
Journal Inquirer
Published: Monday, October 3, 2011 3:06 PM EDT

HARTFORD — Nearly 2,700 state employees have retired since the beginning of the year, in advance of changes to the state’s pension and health insurance plans that take effect today.

That number includes more than 400 retirements each month since July and 556 employees who said within the last month that they’d retire effective today, figures from the state comptroller’s office show. (more…)

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2011/10/01/news/doc4e867553c125a009915076.txt?viewmode=fullstory

Sunday, October 2, 2011
By Mary E. O’Leary, Register Topics Editor
moleary@nhregister.com / Twitter: @nhrmoleary

HARTFORD — The state is ahead of its projections on retirements with 2,693 submitted by Friday afternoon, a figure that is double what happens in a more typical year.

To avoid pension changes that go into effect on Oct. 1, workers had until 5 p.m. Friday to submit retirement papers.

The final figure is expected to increase as individual agencies calculate the numbers, before they are reported to the comptroller’s office, which released the 2,693 number. (more…)

http://www.courant.com/mobile/hc-green-jacksonlab-1001-20110930,0,1633687.column

Rick Green
October 1, 2011

Last spring, the big complaint from Republicans — and even a few Democrats — was that our amped-up governor was moving too fast, too aggressively, to push his billion-dollar University of Connecticut bioscience initiative through.

Well we now know that if Gov. Dannel P. Malloy hadn’t been so impatient and moved so quickly and put such an ambitious plan on the table, we wouldn’t have landed the $1 billion fish that flopped onto our deck this week. (more…)

http://ctmirror.org/story/14076/unions-chastise-malloy-allowing-october-longevity-pay-managers

Keith M. Phaneuf
and Mark Pazniokas
September 30, 2011

Bargaining units representing more than 6,400 unionized state employees chastised Gov. Dannel P. Malloy this afternoon for allowing non-union managers and executives to receive longevity bonuses in October under a new capping system while unionized staff will forfeit some or all of theirs.

CSEA-SEIU Local 2001, called for Malloy to apply the same standard to all workers, arguing that to do otherwise would “violate the spirit” of the $1.6 billion concession deal ratified in mid-August. (more…)

http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/preparing_for_the_next_storm/

by Christine Stuart
Sep 29, 2011 5:30am

What if Tropical Storm Irene had been a category III hurricane? How does the state harden its infrastructure against storms bigger than Irene? Those are just a few of the questions Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s S.T.O.R.M task force will be answering before the end of year.

Joe McGee, co-chair of the task force and vice president of the Business Council of Fairfield County, said he doesn’t want to reinvent the wheel when it comes to studying the storm. He said the governor’s task force will receive all the reports compiled by the utilities, state agencies, the legislature, as well as seek information from other states such as Florida, to see how they can be better prepared for future storms. (more…)

http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/laid_off_social_workers_appeal_to_malloy/

by Hugh McQuaid
Sep 28, 2011 2:59pm

Despite voting to approve wage and benefit concessions, Stefany Acciono was one of 37 non-permanent Department of Children and Families caseworkers who were laid off in July. She and some of her former colleagues gathered at the state Capitol Wednesday to ask the governor to reinstate them.

While the $1.6 billion concession package approved by state employee unions in August provides four years of layoff protection for the bargaining units that voted for it, that job security was not extended to employees who were not considered permanent. (more…)

http://www.ctmirror.org/story/14028/costs-shift-workers-health-insurance-costs-rise

Arielle Levin Becker
September 27, 2011

The cost of employer-sponsored health insurance has grown more than four times faster than inflation since 2001, and the costs borne by workers have risen at an even faster pace as companies increasingly shift health care expenses to their employees.

Instead of simply increasing premiums, many employers now require their workers to pay more when they get medical care. This year, nearly one in three workers covered by their employers had a deductible of at least $1,000, up from one in 10 five years ago. (more…)

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-09-26/public-workers-may-face-cost-of-deficit-cuts-imposed-by-congress.html

September 26, 2011, 12:55 PM EDT
By Jennifer Oldham and Holly Rosenkrantz

Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) — The termination notice hit Irene Wilson like a sucker punch: “It is with deep regret that I must inform you,” it read, “that your position as a nurse for Connecticut Valley Hospital Merritt Hall Addiction Services, Division of Mental Health, is being eliminated.”

Wilson, 56, received the pink slip after Governor Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat, ordered 3,000 job cuts in July when unions failed to approve concessions to help fill a $3.26 billion projected deficit in the state’s $18.7 billion general-fund budget for fiscal 2012. (more…)

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Judge-to-Decide-if-Guards-Can-Sue-to-Reopen-Prison-130496813.html

By Shirley Chan and Associated Press
Saturday, Sep 24, 2011
Updated 11:30 AM EDT

A State Superior Court judge will soon decide if prison guards can sue to force the state to reopen the Bergin Correctional Facility in Mansfield.

A judge heard arguments on the issue Friday afternoon.  The guards say the prison’s closure in August created hazardous work conditions at other prisons because of overcrowding. Union officials say recent prison fights related to crowding show how dangerous conditions are. (more…)

http://ctmirror.org/story/14001/disaster-benefits-draw-crowds-bring-praise-dss

Arielle Levin Becker
September 23, 2011

The line outside the Department of Social Services’ Hartford office stretched down the block Friday. Hundreds more low-income residents visited offices in Bridgeport and New Haven, seeking one-time assistance to make up for losses from Tropical Storm Irene.

The federal benefits have drawn a crowd, and, from people familiar with the department’s programs, praise.

“I really am very impressed with them on this,” said Lucy Nolan, executive director of End Hunger Connecticut. (more…)