The Comptoller's Retirement Services Division has announced they will be holding interactive meetings on MS TEAMS weekly, between now into June 2022 to answer your questions about retirement.  The meetings are open to anyone considering retirement.  To participate you must book your session through the online booking link below:

Link to register for Retirement Services Q&A TEAMS Meeting

Other helpful resources on the topic of retirement can be found here:

https://www.osc.ct.gov/rbsd/stateretire.htm

We are republishing the Comptroller's Retirement Services Division Memorandum 2021-03 in its entirety here.  It is an informative memo from the Comptroller's Retirement Services Division explaining the changes that will become effective July 1, 2022 as a result of the 2017 & 2011 SEBAC Agreements previously ratified by the membership in those years (the contract changes recently ratified by the A&R membership and currently before the Legislature awaiting passage do not impact retirement benefits).

The Comptroller's Retirement Services memo discusses the changes in three broad categories:

1. retirement age
2. retiree cost-of-living adjustments (COLA)
3. retiree healthcare rules changes.

As most members are aware, the changes are somewhat complex.  Intended to provide instruction to Human Resource and Payroll Officers, the memo is a good source for all state employees in the SERS (State Employees Retirement System).

Link to Retirement Services Division Memorandum 2021-03

https://osc.ct.gov/2022-retirement/memo.php

- posted 4/4

All of the 30+ unions have officially ratified their contracts and all of the union contracts were submitted to the CT General Assembly last Friday.  The contracts will be given a "fiscal note" and sent to a legislative committee for a vote.  Typically, the Appropriations Cmte will take up the contracts first.  If the contracts pass in committee, then they will move to the floor of the House and the Senate.  Both chambers need to seperately pass the contracts in order to attain final approval.  Full House & Senate votes must be done within 30 days of submission, this means the Legislature is supposed to complete its votes on our contracts by the end of April (a Governor's signature is not needed as it was the Governor's Office that achieved the contract agreements).
Proposed Contract Changes
Proposed Wage Scales

-04/04/22

THANK YOU:  A&R would like to congratulate all of the long-time State Employees who plan to retire on Friday 3/31/22.  We thank you for all of your years of service and for never letting down the people of CT who have unknowingly relied on you and your efforts throughout the years.  We thank you for all you have done and wish you the best in all that is to come.  Your union will continue to support you and your well earned benefits throughout your retirement just as you have supported your union throughout your career.  We truely hope that you enjoy the next stage in your life, stay safe and be well!

BINGO:...a tough transition here...but BINGO filled up fast, so we will set up another BINGO night for April 19 for those who couldn't join us tonight...but for those those who signed up for BINGO tonight, please remember to check your email to get your cards and to log into the Zoom site before 6PM so you can hear as we call out the numbers.  We will see how many games we can fit in tonight, but here is the planned order of patterns for tonight:

Double Bingo (2 bingos on 1 card)
"L" pattern
Triple Bingo (3 Bingo's on 1 card)
"%" (4 in the top left corner, 4 in the bottom right corner and a complete forward slash thru the middle)
"T" pattern
"X" pattern
"S" pattern
"$" pattern
2 Postage Stamps (block of 4 in 2 corners)
Block of 9
Jail Bars (all of the "B"s, all of the "N"s and all of the "O"s
Fill the Card

The membership has spoken in a unified voice and has overwhelmingly voted in favor of ratifying the contract.

Thank you to all of the members of the A&R Negotiations Committee for all your hours of hard work to deliver this contract to the membership.  Thank you to the A&R stewards who rallied the members and got the message out.  Most importantly, thank you to all of the rank and file A&R members who turned out to participate in this contract vote.  Without your participation, none of these improvements to our contract would become a reality.  The union draws its strength directly from the membership.  We thank all members who participated in the process of making our contract a better vehicle for our employment.  We thank everyone who participated in the collective bargaining process.

This is not finalized. The next and final step in the process is for the contract to be voted upon by the Legislature - which is certainly not a given.  We are urging all A&R members to contact their State Repressentative and Senator to tell them to vote in favor of the state contracts.

- posted 3/25

REMINDER: VOTING CLOSES AT 11:59PM TONIGHT (THURSDAY 3/24)
BE SURE TO CAST YOUR VOTE ON THE CONTRACT

VOTING IS OPEN NOW! 
VOTING CLOSES THURSDAY NIGHT 3/24!

LINK TO THE VOTING SITE (If this link doesn't work in your current browser, try another browser)
You must have your credentials (username/password) on hand to vote.  Your username/password were sent to your home address, so check that stack of mail you have sitting on the counter for a 4x6 postcard.

If you have not received your credentials in your mailbox by now, please use this link to contact office@andr.org with your name and HOME EMAIL address, we will email your credentials to you.

If you are NOT a member of A&R, you must register as an A&R member first!  Use this link to register as an A&R member!

If you would like a full copy of all of the exact wording changes in the contract, please notify office@andr.org with your name & home email address and we will send it to you.

CONTRACT RATIFICATION VOTE

At the end of this week a membership wide contract ratification vote will commence.  The ballot will be open from Friday March 18th at 12:01 AM through Thursday March 24th at 11:59PM.  Members should look in their snail-mail for a postcard from A&R.  The postcard contains your unique voting credentials and instructions on how to go online to access the electronic ballot.  It is very important that you type in the web address exactly as it appears on the postcard.  We anticipate that most postcards will be delivered to members' mailboxes on Friday and Saturday, some may arrive a day earlier, some a day later.  Voting will be open for one week only: March 18 - March 24!!!

In order to vote on the contract ratification question, you must be an A&R union member.  If you are not already enrolled as a union member, there is still time to enroll as a member of the union to participate in the vote.  To enroll as an A&R member, follow this link (ensure your personal email address is correct as we will send your credentials via email).

ONE MORE ZOOM MEETING ON THE CONTRACT AGREEMENT

We held several membership meetings via zoom last week.  We are going to hold another membership meeting at noon on Friday, March 18.  In order to join the Zoom meeting, you must be a member of the A&R union and you must register for the meeting by this Zoom Registration Link:

LEGISLATIVE PUSH

Lastly, if the A&R membership ratifies this contract proposal, it then needs legislative approval.  One of the best ways to do that is by directly interacting with your Senator/HouseRep...fortunately there is a Legislative Zoom Breakfast this Saturday March 19th (being hosted by AFT-CT).  This is the perfect event to let your legislators know that you want them to support your contract!  You want to support them and they need to support you!  If you are in the Greater New Haven area, please jump on this Zoom with other A&R members and let your Reps know you want their vote!

WHAT: Greater New Haven Regional Legislative Meeting
WHEN: Saturday, March 19 from 11:00AM to 12:30PM
WHERE: Online via Zoom
HOW: Click here to register to join us -  it's not too late to RSVP to attend, if you haven't already

- posted 3/16/2022