This evening the State Senate voted 18/18, along party lines, on the SEBAC Agreement.  Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman cast the deciding vote to break the deadlock, approving the Agreement 19/18.

The Agreement has now been passed by both the House and Senate and is effective immediately and retroactively.

Thank you to all members who helped make this happen!  Together we are stronger.

Posted 7/31

For those who have not seen the debate on the floor of the State House on HR 202 Resolution Proposing Approval of an Agreement Between the State of Connecticut and the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC).  Listening to the legislators speak is enlightening and eye-opening. 

As employees, we voted to grant the State multi-billion dollar savings from our wages and benefits, an offering that one would think would be easily and quickly accepted by the House.  It was accepted, but it was not easy.  The resolution passed by a vote of 78-72 along party lines (Rep. Hampton was the only one who flipped on party lines). 

The full debate was over 4 hours long, so below, we have identified the speakers and the time at which they spoke to shorten the process for anyone who wants to hear for themselves which legislators support state employees and which legislators want to gut our entire wage and benefit package.

Link to video of the debate provided through CT-N

Debate starts at the 29:43 minute of the video.

29:43 Rep D'agostino (Hamden) did an amazing job of explaining and supporting HR 202 to the chamber.

39:18 Rep Steinberg (Westport) asks a series of questions leading to his support of the agreement.

1:01:50 Rep Boyd (Pomfret, Eastford, Union Woodstock) spoke in favor of the agreement

1:11:09 Rep Wilms (Norwalk, New Canaan) eliminate collective bargaining and cut employee wages

1:30:00 Rep Davis (Ellington, East Windsor) Criticizes union contracts and unionization in general.  Seeks to ensure that he can't break the contracts if passed.  Advocates elimination of collective bargaining and for legislative control of wages, pension, healthcare

2:00:21 Rep Lavielle (Westport, Norwalk, Wilton)  how the republican budget would be a better option (legislative changes to wages, pension, healthcare)

2:10:40 Rep Rovero (Killingly, Putnam, Thompson) spoke in favor of the agreement

2:22:30 Rep Srinivasan (Glastonbury) State employee benefits are too high and the agreement doesn't go far enough.

2:57:30 Rep Ziobron (East Haddam Colchester, East Hampton)  Just angry, seething, and miserable.  Would gut state employment entirely.

3:14 Rep Yaccarino (North Haven)  The agreement is not fair and does not go far enough

3:21 Mitch Bolinsky (Newtown) complains about the budget, the process, the size of the raises and the cost of state employees.

3:22:40 Rep Devlin (Fairfield, Trumbull)  the agreement doesn't go far enough and state employees should pay far more for benefits. Should push for far more concessions.

3:35:05 Rep delaCruz (Groton, New London) Praises the the process and the gravity of the agreement and the improvement of short and long-term budgets.

3:35:40 Rep O'neill (Southbury, Bridgewater, Roxbury, Washington) Argues about ability to break agreements and reasoning that rejectiong the agreement will allow legislative control fo wages and pension

4:03:19 Rep Stafstrom (Bridgeport) responds to the legal folly of those who plan to eliminate collective bargaining and simply impose legislative changes

4:08:05 Rep Winkler (Vernon)...simply: well stated, Mike!!

4:11 Rep Paolillo (New Haven) the agreement is true progress for the State and taxpayers

4:12:50 Rep DiMassa (West Haven) the agreement has tremednous savings and unionization is setting the example.

4:14:19 Rep Klarides (Derby, Orange, Woodbridge) House minority leader, heads up the campaign to have the legislature set our wages, pension, and healthcare unilaterally.  Plans to severely cut wages and dramatically increase pension and medical contributions.

4:28:30 Rep Ritter (Hartford) a blazing endorsement for unionization and the necessity of this agreement.

NOW IS THE TIME TO CONTACT YOUR STATE SENATOR AND URGE THEM TO SUPPORT COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

Find Your Senator

List of Connecticut Senator emails

Connecticut House of Representatives passes SEBAC package by a vote of 78/72.

The close vote in the House was largely along party lines, with Republicans wanting to reject the deal and seeking more substantial concessions from organized labor.

The Senate, which is tied at 18/18,  is expected to act on the SEBAC package Monday, July 31st.  The Senate will determine the fate of SEBAC 2017.  The vote is expected to be close.

AFT CT has organized a letter writing campaign.  Use this link to contact your senator and urge them to support the Agreement.

SEBAC released the following statement regarding passage by the House:

We commend the House on making an important vote to protect critical public services and move our state forward by approving the SEBAC 2017 agreement. This agreement saves $24 billion over the next twenty years, eliminates 30% of our budget deficit and is the largest savings agreement in our state’s history. Through collective bargaining, we achieved every penny of savings originally sought by the Governor. We urge the Senate to vote quickly to preserve the full value of the agreement.

Updated 7/25

The SEBAC Tentative Agreement, which was overwhelmingly ratified by members, is being considered by the Legislature.  The Tentative Agreement will not take effect unless it is accepted by the Legislature.  The House may act as soon as today, and the Senate is expected to act on the Agreement on Monday, July 31.

The outcome of these votes will determine our fate.  If the Agreement is rejected by the Legislature, we are bound for binding arbitration, layoffs, and will continue to operate under threat of losing collective bargaining altogether.

It is vital that you contact your legislator and  urge them to support the SEBAC Tentative Agreement.

AFT CT has organized a letter writing campaign.  Use this link to contact your legislator and urge them to support the Agreement.

- posted 7/24

Results of voting on A&R's successor agreement are as follows:

A&R Contract Tentative Agreement

• Yes   84.32%
• No    15.68%

The 15 voting members of SEBAC agreed not to release the Pension/healthcare voting results until all bargaining units have completed voting.  All bargaining units will be completed today.

The next step in the process is to report the A&R vote at SEBAC, which is anticipated to meet later today.  At SEBAC, if the threshold of 10 voting members declare that the Pension/healthcare TA passed their membership (and the 10 voting members constitute 66% of state employee union membership) then the Pension/healthcare TA will pass and both the Pension/healthcare TA and the A&R contract will be submitted to the legislature for acceptance.  

Posted 7/17

Voting credentials for the online balloting on our A&R Contract and the Pension/Healthcare Tentative Agreement should be arriving in mailboxes starting Friday 7/7/17.  Voting credentials will be on a postcard with the A&R logo and will include a username, password, and the exact web address to key in.
Only active members will receive credentials.

If you have not received your voting credentials, email office@andr.org with your name and a home email address by noon on Friday 7/14/17.  BigPulse (the voting administrator) will contact you via email with your credentials within 24hrs.

If you are having trouble typing/accessing the voting website, this link will bring you directly to the log-in screen 

https://www.bigpulse.com/p47315/signin

 Voting opened on Friday 7/7/17 and closes Sunday night 7/16/17 at 11:59 pm.