The recent budget reductions of $105m imposed by the Governor have led to the inevitable concerns by many of our members regarding state employee concessions. To be certain, there have been no concession discussions between the Unions and the State despite the chatter that is rippling. It is clear that A&R has no desire to allow further erosion of our Pension or Healthcare benefits. The current chatter relates to furloughs days (CTMirror Article 10/2/2015) and (Governor Malloy WFSB 10/5/2015) but absolutely nothing has been raised to the Unions. Despite the larger budget discussions, these issues will not deter A&R from seeking to engage the State in our own contract bargaining. The current State budget incorporates raises of 2.5% for employees for July 2016 - June 2017. Further, several "language" issues within our contract need to be addressed, and that can only be done via direct negotiations with the state. Budget problems are universal, cyclical, and common and shall not derail our goal of negotiating our contract with the State.