At the 2/16 meeting of the State Bond Commission, all items before the commission were given a favorable vote, including the vote on funding for Kronos (the State Time Management System).  This isn't the last time you will see this issue.  This is clearly a waste of resources that many legislators are just not aware is occuring.  So we will continue to inform legislators about this foolishness...in the meantime, this system will start to be rolled out at various agencies.

If you wish to keep your legislator educated and focused on an issue, the easiest way is to talk to your legislator...the

The state has indicated to SEBAC that the state operates on a cash basis.  As such, they claim that "Effective 7/1/17" means something slightly different than what you might expect.  For instance, regarding pension contributions, the 2017 SEBAC Agreement language specifies: "Effective 7/1/17 contributions in all SERS Tiers shall increase by 1.5% of salary".  Seems straight forward - doesn't it?  We thought so.  But the state, in its infinite wisdom, with its cash basis claim, is interpreting this to mean that pay period June 23 through July 6, 2017 was paid after July 1, and therefore all

The 2018 CT Legislative Session opened last month and it came as no surprise that state employees are again being targeted by the same group of legislators who continue to attack working families.  Bill no. 5068, co-sponsored by House Minority Leader Themis Klarides would:

1. Eliminate the breakpoint for new hires immediately; eliminate the breakpoint for existing employees effective 7/1/21
2. Increase pension contributions for new hires to 7% effective immediately ; increase contributions to 7% for all employees effective 7/1/27
3. Eliminate COLAs for all current and future retirees immediately until the

DAS is instituting a "time management" system in all agencies throughout the Executive Branch.  The system is designed by a company called Kronos and it is an electronic "sign-in/sign-out" system.  The electronic sign-in/sign-out system will be installed at every office building and extend to every field employee whose agency falls under the DAS umbrella.  There are also GPS tracking capabilities for State vehicles and an associated cell phone app. 

This is directly from the homepage of the Kronos website and explains all you need to know about it:

If electronic tracking sounds good to you, then rejoice, it is on the way.  If this sounds like something you abhor and it angers you that you increased your pension contributions so the State can afford a tracking system, then you need to speak up...now.  This is a system that is expected to exceed $25 million dollars (if it works smoothly) and the process to secure the funding is under way. 

The State Bond Commission is meeting Friday 2/16 to approve money for this project.  The project is contained as a line item of a larger IT bond request so it will be difficult to extract from the overall request, but this system is so offensive it deserves our communal efforts.

If you want to oppose installation of the employee tracking system, contact the members of the Bond Commission by phone or email and let them know that this is an unacceptable waste of money during a time of extreme budgetary constraints...this is not a "need" for the State, this is a "want", and we don't want it.

The Bond Commission members are listed below: let each of them know if you believe this system is a misuse of scarce and dwindling resources and would be a prime example of wasteful spending and bad government.

Gov. Malloy
Benjamin Barnes, Secretary OPM ben.barnes@ct.gov
Denise L. Nappier, State Treasurer state.treasurer@ct.gov
Kevin P. Lembo, State Comptroller kevin.lembo@ct.gov
George C. Jepsen, Attorney General attorney.general@ct.gov
Melody A. Currey, Commissioner DAS melody.currey@ct.gov
Sen. John W. Fonfara john.fonfara@cga.ct.gov
Sen. Scott Frantz Scott.Frantz@cga.ct.gov
Rep. Jason Rojas Jason.Rojas@cga.ct.gov
Rep. Christopher Davis chris.davis@housegop.ct.gov

The Commission on Fiscal Stability and Economic Growth was recently established by the Legislature via PA 17-2 Sec. 250.  The Commission has heard testimony from the Yankee Institute as well as the CBIA.

The Commission is expected to make recommendations to the Legislature on a variety of issues which may be extremely impactful to the future of organized labor in Connecticut.  The Commission is co-chaired by two prominent business leaders: health-care entrepreneur Robert Patricelli and Webster Bank’s chairman and former chief executive officer, James Smith.  Most of the board members come from