We are seeking membership input for 2 areas of A&R: Contract Negotiations and Social Activities and we hope you take a moment to help us in our effort to solicit ideas from everyone, even if you can't attend the union meetings.

The first ask is regarding the A&R contract: although our contract won't expire until July 2021, we have started the process of formulating ideas for our successor agreement, so if there is anything in our contract that you would like to see or you would like to change or fix, please take a moment to complete the open ended question to let us know.  If you wish to attend our negotiations meetings (the next meeting is January 22, 2020) we certainly welcome all A&R members. You are not "locked in" if you attend one meeting, you can attend as your schedule allows, but everyone is welcome to give input and speak on any issue.

The second "survey" is for the Social Committee.  Every year we run at least a dozen events with great participation, but we are always looking for new ideas/events.  If you have an idea for an event or trip, we would love to hear it...keep in mind that costs and time are considerable factors in planning social events so we need to be reasonable (yes, a trip to Majorka would be great, but highly unlikely as a union sponsored trip)...so if you have an idea you think would be fun for a day or afternoon or want us to try a new venue for our current events, let us know. 

Negotiations Input

Social Committee Input

The DAS Family and Medical Leave Entitlements manual will soon be re-issued with a change to the formula for calculating Reduced Schedule Leave for Bonding (which is Chapter 17 of the manual).  The revised calculation corrects an error in the formula and impacts Steps 3 & 4 of the formula which will now factor in the days NOT worked rather than the days worked.  Anyone who is utilizing a reduced schedule for bonding leave should review the revised calculation as it may impact the benefit that was granted.  The revised formula for steps 3 & 4 are below:

3^rd- Determine what percentage of the work

Just a personal note: as someone who went to Sandy Hook Elementary School as a child and graduated from Newtown HS, I can't help but comment on the Newtown High School football team which won the Class LL State Championship on 12/14/2019...the 7th anniversary of the school shooting.  Some of those football players attended SHS at the time of the tragedy and for them to win the Championship on the final play of the game on the same date 7 years later was so moving and so perfect.  Congrats NHS!!!

Friday December 20th, all employees who are not on the Top Step of their salary grade will "move up" one step.  Those on the Top Step of their salary grade will receive a Top Step Payment of 2.5%.  For those who don't "math", there is a table near the back of the blue A&R Contract book which calculates the Top Step Payment that you will receive; use the 6/21/2019 table.  Since these are awarded on the first day of the payperiod, they won't be reflected in your paycheck until January 16, 2020. 

A couple of caveats: the Step increase requires a minimum "Good or Better" service rating from September 2019.  The Top Step Payment does not have that requirement, it is now part of the annual salary (based upon a language change we made in the recent contract negotiations).  ACTs/CCTs in a 2 year training class have seperate language, they will move to Salary Grade 15 Step 5 upon completion of 1 year of satisfactory service.

View the current Wage Charts

View the Top Step Payment Table

When we approved the SEBAC 2017 agreement, many in the legislature did not believe that the projected savings from that agreement were real and publicly ambushed the agreement with claims that collective bargaining was rigged and the associated budget savings were false.  As a result, the legislature tasked the Comptroller's Office withcompiling a report to validate (or invalidate) the expected savings from SEBAC 2017.  The Comptroller's Office released the SEBAC Savings Report on 12/10/19.  The SEBAC Savings Report  verified that not only were the projected savings real and acheived, but they exceeded expectations. The expected savings were $700 million in FY18 and $900 million in FY19 for a total 2-year savings of $1.6 billion; ultimately, the savings amounted to $1.7 billion for the 2-year budget cycle, exceeding expectations by over $100 million.  View the report for a breakdown of the savings.

With winter weather again upon us we want to remind members how to conduct themselves in accordance with the contract.  Contract provisions regarding delayed openings and shift cancellations are as follows:

• If you have scheduled PL, VAC or sick leave during the time of a shift cancellation, you are no longer required to burn the PL, VAC or sick leave if your shift (or any portion thereof) is canceled.
  • Accruals will still be charged if you had leave scheduled for the entire week.

• Essential employees -  If you are required to work during a shift cancellation (full or partial), in addition to your