The State Legislature will convene on Thursday January 4 to address the $220 million budget gap as well as to resolve a snafu in the budget related to the Medicare Savings Program. Despite the fact that State Employees provided over $1.5 billion in budget savings via the 2017 SEBAC agreement (which will translate into $24 billion over the next 20 years), several Republicans in the legislature continue their public messaging campaign against state employees and stating that budget problems should be fixed by curbing state employee costs. During the upcoming legislative session It is expected that (yet again) Republican leadership will do a lot of whining and crying about the 2017 SEBAC agreement and prattle on about our compensation/pension/healthcare.
To be clear, A&R leadership, stands strong with other SEBAC members: we have no intention whatsoever to renegotiate the 2017 SEBAC agreement, or our A&R collective bargaining agreement.
AFT-CT has responded with a very appropriate message which we fully support and present below. Although you will likley hear the same drivel about your benefits needing to be reduced, and the SEBAC agreement re-opened, take it for what it is: nothing more than campaign blathering and scapegoating to avoid discussions relating to their lackluster efforts in generating revenue. Organized labor did our part in 2017 and our contracts are committed and locked down for several years.
The message from AFT-CT, and fully supported by A&R:
While we certainly want to share our warmest wishes for a prosperous 2018 for you and your family, we're also reaching out today with an important heads-up. Late last month, Republican legislative leaders began circulating false claims about the labor cost savings produced by the agreements you and your colleagues ratified last summer.
Lawmakers are scheduled to convene a special session this week to address ongoing budget shortfalls. The likelihood of GOP politicians — who share control of the state Senate — calling for a "re-opener" of the 2017 State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC) agreements is very high.
To be clear, our agreements are legal and binding, and any such call to "re-open" talks would be little more than a deceptive political stunt. As union leaders, we have no intention of renegotiating the master agreement covering pensions and health benefits through 2027 or individual contracts covering wages and working conditions for five years.