Although not all of the State House/Senate seats have been decided, the winners for the Constitutional Offices of Connecticut have been declared.  We want to congratulate the new leadership team in Connecticut (each of whom received A&R's endorsement).

Governor:                 Ned Lamont
Lt. Governor:           Susan Bysiewicz
Sec. of the State:    Denise Merrill
Comptroller:            Kevin Lembo
Treasurer:               Shawn Wooden
Attorney General:   William Tong

Make your voice be heard.  Get to the polls Tuesday and VOTE!!!!

Find your polling place here

The A&R employees union is proud to announce our endorsements for the 2018 Connecticut Midterm Election. The endorsements are based on a combination of several factors, including voting records, in-person interviews, responses to questionnaires, and the candidates support of collective bargaining laws.

The anti-labor rhetoric coming out of the state capitol specifically targeting state employees should not be allowed to continue.  The best way to address this is for Connecticut to elect lawmakers who are committed to defending collective bargaining laws and the rights of employees to unionize.

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For employees who qualify for Longevity payments, the payment will be included in the 10/25 paycheck.  To qualify, you must have 10 years of service as of 10/1/18 and a start date prior to 7/1/2011.  View the longevity charts or find them near the end of our newly printed "blue" contract books.
 

Tuition Reimbursement:  The Comptroller's Office is catching up on Tuition Reimbursements from 2015 through 2018.  There was a long period of time where funding and payments ceased as we entered a prolonged contract negotiations.  Since then, the race to validate and pay the reimbursement requests has been moving forward and we are at the point where the backlog is expected to be cleared within the next few weeks.  For A&R, the 2015 and 2016 claims should be completely paid up and the 2017 claims are almost complete.  We should have plenty of funding available to fill all valid requests

State employee pensions have become a topic of interest to the Hartford Courant in recent weeks.  Three weeks ago the Hartford Courant printed a negative Editorial about our pension funding and followed that with a negative and misinformed Op-Ed piece by David Stemmerman (i think that is his name, not really sure, don't really care).  Since then, the Courant has printed 2 pieces which counter the HC's position and defend the pensions and showcase a true understanding of state employee pensions.

Last week, Gov. Malloy's Op-Ed defending the pension system was printed by the Courant and then this