The Governor's Office continues to be on a path of confusion with their self-created "fiscal cliff" and their "new economic reality". The Governor held an Open Budget Forum in New Haven this week to push his budget agenda. That meeting was well attended by A&R members as well as members from other State employee unions. Members questioned the Governor about his budget plan which not only calls for reduced wages for State employees but also for reductions in the State workforce. Other Unions are joining us at these events so stop in for a show of solidarity when the next event is scheduled (no additional events have been scheduled as of yet). The Governor needs to hear our voices and feel our presence.
A&R met with the State for yet another round of contract negotiations on Monday, 2/22. There has been little movement on substantive issues, although some progress was made in cleaning up old language in the contract. While there has been some discussion regarding more impactful issues, such as wages, there is nothing as of yet to report. While there has been a bit of a warming between the parties, clearly we are nowhere close to a deal at this point. Wages, AWS, and key membership rights within the contract are under assault, and the parties are very far apart regarding these issues. Our next negotiation session is to be held on 3/3. At that meeting we expect to review some of the less impactful items in the proposals to see if any common ground can be found between the parties. Discussions over these less impactful issues will likely to be contentious to some extent as well. However, such issues are important to the membership and represent areas where advancement can be made if the State is willing to make a good faith effort to work with the Union.
We will keep you informed as things develop.