In recent weeks, various press reports have indicated that Governor Lamont has held talks with labor.  Such reports can be misleading.   While meetings with “labor” have been held – these were meetings with labor organizations with no authority or jurisdiction to negotiate for SEBAC.  No meetings or discussions have taken place between the Governor’s office and SEBAC.  SEBAC, the State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition, is the exclusive representative of state employees to negotiate healthcare and pension benefits.  The current SEBAC agreement does not expire until June 30, 2027, with job security provisions of that agreement effective through June 30, 2021.  Given these facts, A&R's position is that SEBAC leadership has no reason to currently be in discussions with the Governor’s office.  In fact no such meetings have taken place –  and none have been scheduled.

Everyone should have received their A&R ballot in the mail by now (it was mailed on April 4).  This year, our annual balloting is on Constitutional Amendments only.  This is an electronic ballot and your username/password credentials are printed on the documents received in the mail.  If you have any issues with voting or if you have misplaced or not received your ballot, send an email to office@andr.org which includes your name/employee id, and personal email address so we can contact our online voting vendor (BigPulse) who will follow-up with you.  

When you visit the voting website, you need to type in the entire address listed:
https://www.bigpulse.com/p54923/signin

There are only 6 Yes/No questions on A&R Constitutional Amendments, these suggested amendments where passed by the Amendment Advisory Committee and by the Representative Assembly and now require a 2/3 vote of the membership in order to be accepted.  This entire process shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes, so please take the time to vote.  Balloting closes at 11:59pm on Wednesday April 24th and the results will be announced at the A&R Convention on April 25th.

Also, at the next RA meeting (Tuesday May 14, we will be selecting chairs for the following committees, if you are interested in joining any of these committees, please send an email to office@andr.org to let us know or simply attend a meeting as they are open to all A&R members.

Professional Development
Health and Safety
Communications
Social
COPE (Committee on Political Education)

A&R will be awarding 16 scholarships to children of A&R members who are pursuing post-secondary education.  This year, there will be 15 scholarships of $1,500 in addition to our Harry Zilber scholarship for $2,500.  Only children of current A&R members or children of A&R 4200R (our retiree chapter) can qualify for these scholarships.
The application deadline is Wednesday April 10th and winners will be announced at the A&R Convention on April 25th.

The value of union membership was clearly demonstrated on Wednesday (March 27^th) when lawyers working at the Attorney Generals Office had their first contract approved at the state legislature.  This was a significant milestone for this group of 185 state employees.   These employees had not been unionized previously and had not recieved raises in many years.  About two years ago these 'at will' state employees organized themselves.  They petitioned the state for the right to form a union.  They held a vote.  They formed their own union.  The result:  with their first contract they secured a 3

General Update (3/25/2019)

First, the A&R Tax Attorneys "impact bargaining" agreement has finally made its way to the legislature (HR-23 & SR-26).  This has been a tough road for over 2 years to get this group into A&R from a non-union status.  The Tax Attorneys were the first group that organized into A&R and there are 9 other titles that followed their lead and successfully unionized.  This has not exactly been a smooth transition for them so I want to thank them for having the courage to do what they did and the determination to see this through until the end.  We still need to get this

Just a reminder of some upcoming A&R events.  All events are open to active members and their guests:

4/5/19    Chocolate and Wine Cruise (view flyer)
Enjoy an evening of music, chocolate, and wine while cruising along the Connecticut river aboard the Lady Katharine

5/11/19  Boston - Do Your Own Thing (view flyer)
Spend the day having fun doing your own thing in Boston

6/15/19  New York - Do Your Own Thing (view flyer)
Spend the day doing your own thing, this time in New York

8/9/19    Red Sox vs LA Angels at Fenway Park  (view flyer)

8/17/19    Saratoga Races  (view flyer)

10/13/19   Foxwoods Casino Bus Trip  (view flyer)