Voting credentials for the online balloting on our A&R Contract and the Pension/Healthcare Tentative Agreement should be arriving in mailboxes starting Friday 7/7/17.  Voting credentials will be on a postcard with the A&R logo and will include a username, password, and the exact web address to key in.
Only active members will receive credentials.

If you have not received your voting credentials, email office@andr.org with your name and a home email address by noon on Friday 7/14/17.  BigPulse (the voting administrator) will contact you via email with your credentials within 24hrs.

If you are having trouble typing/accessing the voting website, this link will bring you directly to the log-in screen 

https://www.bigpulse.com/p47315/signin

 Voting opened on Friday 7/7/17 and closes Sunday night 7/16/17 at 11:59 pm.

A&R Employees have two tentative agreements: one is our own contract and the other is a pension/healthcare agreement.

Both agreements are required to pass a majority vote of the membership.  Voting will open Friday 7/7 through Sunday 7/16 11:59 pm.  This will be an electronic vote via website just like our annual union voting. 

While two seperate votes are required: one vote on the A&R contract and a second vote for Pension/Healthcare, be aware that this is a package deal.  In order to obtain the wage increases and job security being offered, a 'yes' vote is needed on both the A&R contract and the SEBAC modifications.   If the A&R contract is passed by the membership, but the membership votes down the SEBAC changes (pension and healthcare) it is a near certainty the legislature will reject the A&R contract, sending us to arbitration.  

All ACTIVE members will receive their voting credentials in the mail within the next few days (non-members/fee payers will not receive credentials).  Voting credentials will be on a postcard-sized document with the A&R logo on front and back.  Type in the web address identified on the postcard (exactly as written) and enter your credentials. The website is enabled for smartphone access as well.

If there are issues with the voting or you do not receive your credentials by Tuesday 7/11, please email: office@andr.org.

The 15 members of SEBAC voted to accept the negotiated Framework resulting in a Tentative Agreement between the State and the SEBAC unions.  The Tentative Agreement will now be subject to membership ratification.  The results of the ratification vote are to be reported back to SEBAC on July 17, 2017.

The A&R membership will be voting electronically on 2 issues simultaneously:

1) Pension/Healthcare Tentative Agreement
2) A&R Contract Tentative Agreement.

A simple majority (>50%) is required to pass each issue.

View the SEBAC Tentative Agreement
View the A&R Tentative Agreement

The long running battle to get an A&R contract has come to a significant point.  After many long days and late nights, we have hammered out a tentative agreement with the State.  The tentative agreement has been signed by both parties and will be subject to a membership ratification vote in July.

There were many issues that needed to be addressed and many provisions that we needed to protect.  As you will see, collective bargaining can lead to improved benefits, guaranteed by contract.  We covered quite a bit of ground in this agreement.

Some of the issues:

• Snow day shift closings won't incur use of accruals,
• Delayed Openings will allow full "ww" credit and ability to make up the time,
• "Essential Employees" will receive comp time if their normal shift is closed yet they work
• Maximum vacation accrual increased (payout remains capped at 480 hrs)
• AWS won't be denied or removed without a proper (expedited) hearing.
• If instructed to attend meetings outside employee AWS schedule requires 10 day notice or OT/Comp
• Funeral Time now includes memorial services and mother/father in-laws
• Stipend for volunteering to provide bilingual services
• Top Step Payment will be a permanent part of wages, no longer a bonus at risk
• Tuition/Professional Development funds will be paid retroactively
• Attorney CLEs will be covered (both cost and time)
• Telecommuting policy to be negotiated later this year
• Durational/temporary employees attain contract rights

Summary of the A&R Contract Tentative Agreement

What Happens Next...

View The
SEBAC Tentative Agreement and FAQs

SEBAC Summary
 

A&R Contract Tentative Agreement

A&R Contract Summary
updated 6/29

For those struggling to understand why we are again working with the Governor's Office on a labor agreement, this is why...

Attached is the press release from the Republican Senators who are calling for the end of collective bargaining for State Employees...remember, the GOP is tied for control of the State Senate...and they are only down 79-72 in the CT House.  Here is their plan for State employees:

Here is a snippet from the ctmirror article on the GOP plan:

Senate Republican leader Len Fasano unveiled a plan to achieve nearly $2.2 billion in savings — with or without union consent.

But it would require officials to:

• Suspend or eliminate arbitration for unionized employees’ wages;
• Replace all overtime with compensatory time;
• Increase worker contributions toward retirement health care and require more service before guaranteeing this benefit;
• And triple all workers’ pension contributions in future years.

“We have the power within the legislature to change statutes, prospectively and currently, to achieve savings,” Fasano said. “ … This is the power we have. We don’t have to sit back and wait.”

Attached is a Summary of the SEBAC framework which we hope can address many of the questions being asked.  This framework extends our benefits, at risk is having them completely eliminated.

-5/31/17