We have our annual trip to Fenway Park scheduled for Friday August 9^th against the LA Angels.
There are still tickets available.  Tickets are $79 each and include the bus ride to/from the stadium.
Complete/Return the registration form with payment.

The Sox and Angels are fighting for a playoff spot and the Angels showcase two young stars: Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani....Shohei Ohtani was the 2018 Rookie of the Year and is both a star pitcher and an outfielder/DH for the Angels (he holds the record for the fastest pitch ever thrown in the Japanese league [102mph])...and Mike Trout is simply the best active player in the MLB.  Mike Trout has been 1st or 2nd for the A.L. MVP balloting in 6 of the last 7 years.  So join us to watch Mookie, JD, Xander, and Beni make their push to the playoffs from the friendly confines of Fenway Park.

Wednesday 7/24 was our first set of hearings related to Telework denials.  We were anticipating reviewing 3 agencies (SEEC, DCF, and DRS), however, the appeal process started off a little slow as "binding facilitation" is not a concept we have engaged in before.  There were some disagreements on how the process would work and who should be seated in the room, but we were able to move through those kinks and get testimony on the record from all of the SEEC telework applicants in attendance as well as the agency.  We will now wait for the facilitators instructions/determinations on these appeals

UPDATE 7/18/19:

SEBAC and the State have agreed to a pension re-amoritization plan.  This agreement only impacts the payments made by the State to fund the pension liability, it does not impact benefits.  This plan will go before the legislature for approval.  This wasn't a difficult discussion, this was the original recommendation from 2016, however, then-Governor Malloy sought a much more aggressive payment plan in 2016 so of course we agreed to that.  In an effort to stabilize the State's annually required payments, current Governor Lamont sought a new agreement reflecting the prior recommendation with an option to revisit the payment plan within a few years. 

SEBAC has released this statement:

SEBAC and the Lamont Administration have completed their discussions on pension re-amortization in accordance with the recently passed biennial budget and have reached an agreement. It keeps the parties’ commitment to make no change in pension benefits.

The agreement will be submitted to the General Assembly for approval.

This is part of our continuing effort to work with the Lamont Administration on “win-win” solutions for achieving efficiency that will benefit everyone. Completing the re-amortization of the state pension fund, adjusting the schedule to pay off Connecticut’s pension debt, will help stabilize state pensions and ensure obligations to current and future retirees are fully funded; it was included in the recently passed budget along with re-amortizing the Teacher’s Retirement Fund.

None of the proposed savings would result in changes to the pension and health insurance benefits of state employees or retirees.

SEBAC will not be part of asking for more sacrifices for state employees, who have already given so much for the people we serve. Our 2017 agreement is saving Connecticut taxpayers $25 billion over the next 20 years, helping to close the chronic budget deficits that imperil vital public services.
 

Attached —
July 15, 2019 Memorandum of Understanding

SEBAC released the following statement 7/10/19

"SEBAC and the Lamont administration met Monday 7/8 to work on the details of a re-amortization of the state pension fund.  Meetings will continue. This is part of our continuing effort to work with the Lamont administration on “win-win” solutions for achieving efficiency that will benefit everyone.  Completing the re-amortization of the state pension fund, adjusting the schedule to pay off Connecticut’s pension debt, will help stabilize state pensions and ensure obligations to current and future retirees are fully funded; it was included in the recently passed budget along with re-amortizing the Teacher’s Retirement Fund.  None of the proposed savings would result in changes to the pension and health insurance benefits of state employees or retirees.  

SEBAC will not be part of asking for more sacrifices for state employees, who have already given so much for the people we serve.  Our 2017 agreement is saving Connecticut taxpayers $25 billion over the next 20 years, helping to close the chronic budget deficits that imperil vital public services."

The above statement is accurate and I agreed to post it...to add a little more insight into what is occuring, pension "re-amoritization" is essentially re-financing the pension payments that the State is required to make annually...this does NOT change our benefits, it makes sense to re-finance the payment plan (for us, for the State, and the public), and labor savings were actually part of the State's budget and this fits that purpose.  So talks will continue as to how best to re-finance, but be secure that this will not cause changes to benefits or further increase contributions to the pension plan.

We have added 3 new social events to our calendar...

August 30, 2019 - A&R Member's Picnic at Maneeley's $15/person (view flyer)

October 19, 2019 - A trip to Salem, MA for the Haunted Happenings $79 (view flyer)

December 7, 2019 - Our annual trip to NYC, Do Your Own Thing for the day $32 (view flyer)

Then get a baby-sitter ready for October 25...we are looking to sponsor a fund-raiser for an unforgettable night of laughs...more details to come, but you will definitely want to be there.

There are 4 items of interest to bring to your attention:

1)  General Wage Increase: All A&R members are getting a long awaited 3.5% raise effective today (6/21/19).  This will be slightly offset by an increase of a 0.5% contribution to the pension fund.  Both changes will show up in the July 19^th paycheck. 

2)  Pension Funding Discussions: The State has asked SEBAC to discuss the pension funding agreement in place since 2016.  This is an effort to re-amortize the pension debt and re-structure the state's payment plan.  We want to be clear as to what this represents, and what this does not represent:  This is about impacting the timing and level of the annual payments made by the state into the SERs pension fund.  This is NOT about changing pension benefits.  Regardless of the pension funding agreements, the pension benefits will remain in full force.  SEBAC unions have no interest in modifying the benefits or any other aspect of the SERs plan or the SEBAC 2017 agreement.  This is a pension funding issue only.  The state is seeking to achieve annual savings by re-structuring the debt and would need the approval of SEBAC leadership to modify its current payment plan.

3)  Pharmacy Agreement:  Comptroller Kevin Lembo announced on Wednesday, June 19^th that the Healthcare Cost Containment Committee has reached a landmark agreement with CVS/Caremark which will capture the rebates and savings typically offered by the pharmacuetical industry which historically have not been passed on to the State.  The Healthcare Cost Containment Committee is a joint labor/management committee overseeing the administration of our medical benefits and costs.  This agreement was unanimously approved by the joint HCCC and will produce savings without impacting our phamacy benefits.

4)  Newly Accreted Members/Job Titles:  Guidance has been given to the impacted agencies to apply the Accretion Agreements passed by the Legislature in the 2019 Session.  This means that the agencies should begin implementing the terms of those agreements which include:  3.5% General Wage Increase, the $1000/$2000 payment, and retro-active Longevity Payments for 2018 and April 2019.  The TopStepPayment or the 2% increment (in lieu of a Step) will be on time, in January 2020.  Lastly, accreted members will be responsible to take one furlough day (if no furlough days were taken between July 2017 and June 2018).  The General Wage Increase and retro-active payments should be reflected in your July 19^th paycheck.

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DAS acknowledges that the Telework Work Plan document which it posted is NOT a required document, it was a sample document.  A work plan in general is a required element of the Telework process, but the Telework Work Plan document sighted was only a sample, it was not a mandatory document. 

As the telework program rolls out, we are trying to organize any denials so we can bring them forward for review by the Telework Committee.  Any A&R member denials should be sent to the A&R telework email address: telework@andr.org and cc’d to the SEBAC telework email address of teleworksebac@gmail.com.  Please include in the email a copy of the application forms and include any stated or written reason for the denial.  This will begin the appeal process.

We are also able to appeal unreasonable delays in the application/approval process.  For this initial starting phase, anyone who submitted their application prior to June 21^st and has not received an approval/denial by July 10^th, please notify us at the above email addresses along with your:

1. application forms
2. proof of your submittal date
3. any follow-up communications to/from your manager

Going forward (beyond this initial start-up phase), an unreasonable delay would generally be any determination taking longer than two weeks time from date of submittal.

The rights obtained under this agreement are not limited to a managers personal feelings regarding Telework.  If any A&R employee/supervisor is being instructed to hold-off or simply deny requests in a manner that is inconsistent with the Interim Telework agreement, please follow your directives, however, memorialize the instructions given to you by email to your supervisor/manager (e.g., "You have instructed me to X, please correct my understanding if in error") and inform us via the telework@andr.org address along with the memorialized instructions. This would include any directives that encourage members to either not apply or to apply for only 1 day rather than 2.