A few weeks ago the General Assembly passed a budget which in many respects was extremely hostile to State Employees. The budget put before the Governor included provisions severely restricting future collective bargaining rights. In essence, that budget represented a direct assault on the future of collective bargaining in Connecticut.
Governor Malloy vetoed that budget. We are thankful that he did. The legislators who passed that budget should be embarrassed, for they ignored the sacrifices recently made by state employees. State Employees, and the unions that represent them, agreed to be a part of the solution. Our contribution is tangible, amounting to $1.6 billion in savings over the next two years, and $24 billion over the next twenty years.
We have done our part. We have done our part for the last several budget cycles. Yet we remain the target of choice for several legislators!
The budget process is ongoing. The SEBAC leadership felt it was important to directly address legislators and remind them that unionized employees have contributed substantially to the tune of $1.6 billion in this budget cycle alone. We felt it necessary to remind all legislators of the role collective bargaining has played in achieving billions in savings through pension and healthcare modifications over the years and to address some of the inaccurate statements and rhetoric circulating at the Capitol.
"Big Labor" is not a "thing", it is people, it is families, it is communities, it does not deserve to be vilified as the main reason the budget can't be balanced.
SEBAC's letter to the legislators follows:
October 11, 2017
Dear {Legislator},
We are aware of and applaud the efforts of the General Assembly to pass a balanced budget. We write specifically to urge the General Assembly not to repeat the legal and practical flaws in the recently vetoed budget, and to urge fair-minded legislators of both parties to avoid in any future budget, the legal and moral errors that doomed the vetoed budget to failure.
As you know, state employees have already played a huge part in making these efforts possible. On top of the billion dollars a year in ongoing savings we have produced through the 2009 and 2011 agreements, in SEBAC 2017 our members have provided nearly $1.6 billion towards the current biennial budget; over $24 billion in the next 20 years. That additional $1.6 billion from less than 1.5 percent of Connecticut’s population solves over 33 percent of the budget deficit and amounts to approximately $17,500 per year per worker. Compare that to the additional sacrifice current budget efforts are asking from Connecticut’s millionaires and billionaires – absolutely nothing – and you see how essential our members’ sacrifices are to legislative efforts to balance the budget.
While we continue to believe this effort would be greatly aided by applying fairness to Connecticut’s revenue system so that those most able to pay would be asked to pay their fair share, and by reviewing the billions in corporate tax loopholes, it is the unlawful collective bargaining provisions in the vetoed budget that we write now to stress.
Specifically, that budget was not just morally wrong by disrespecting working families who once again sacrificed so much in the interest of the services they provide and the people they serve. It was legally wrong, since it would retroactively diminish the value of earned benefits, and directly violate the SEBAC agreement. Those provisions, were they to find their way into a budget that eventually became law, would give us no choice but to bring suit to defend our members’ rights, and at the same time to help defend an institution that protects all of Connecticut’s 3.5 million residents.
Two of the most obvious legal failures are these: The vetoed budget substantially reduces earned pension benefits effective 7/1/27, even though those benefits were earned before 7/1/27 under a contract which could be changed only by negotiations or mutual agreement. These contractually earned benefits are protected against these bait and switch tactics by the United States and Connecticut Constitutions. We would have no choice but to enforce those constitutional protections.
The vetoed budget also seeks to reduce contractually required state pension contributions immediately by ordering the independent Retirement Commission to redo the actuarially required pension contributions to reflect the illegal changes. The provisions requiring the Retirement Commission to independently determine the required state pension contribution as a fiduciary in the interest of the beneficiaries, the plan, and ultimately the people of Connecticut are part of the provisions of the contract between the State and SEBAC. To unilaterally alter those provisions by ordering the Retirement Commission to reflect the illegal changes to the plan even though they are certain to be legally challenged is a direct violation of our contract. Again, we would have no choice but to sue.
The result of the budget’s unlawful actions would be the opposite of what proponents claim to intend. It would put the state hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars more in debt to the pension fund instead of reducing that liability. And that’s not even counting the millions of wasted dollars on legal fees that should instead to be used to provide vital services.
Ironically, it was the General Assembly’s unilateral control of pension contributions before collective bargaining that got us into this mess to begin with. From 1939 to 1971, the General Assembly didn't’t even try to pre-fund the pension plan. In 1971, the General Assembly passed a law requiring it to pay the actuarially required contributions to the fund but ignored that law repeatedly simply by putting the words “notwithstanding” into its budget bills and paying whatever it chose to pay. It was only collective bargaining that created the legal obligation on the General Assembly to actually fund its pension promises, and it is precisely that legal obligation that the Republican budget seeks to weaken or destroy. This would recreate the bad old days when the General Assembly could simply decide how much money to put into the pension funds based upon what was politically expedient, not what was financially prudent.
State employees are proud of the work they do helping to educate our children, protect our communities, serve the elderly and disabled, and so much more. We are proud of our collective bargaining system and what it has accomplished for the public as well as for public employees such as reducing employee turnover, decreasing recruiting and retention costs and training, and maintaining an experienced workforce. Billionaire funded right-wing think tanks may urge the General Assembly to dismantle that system and replace it with a legislatively set retirement benefit. But in more than half of the states that legislate instead of bargaining their pensions, the “reforms” supported by such extremist organizations would be illegal without a constitutional amendment – much harder to get than a collective bargaining agreement. Indeed, much of the savings produced by collective bargaining in SEBAC 2009, 2011 and 2017 would have been illegal in those states, including our neighboring states of New York and Massachusetts. And they would have been equally illegal in the private sector.
Collective bargaining is a fair and balanced way to provide for retirement benefits in the public sector, just as it is in the private sector. And again, it is only through collective bargaining agreements that future General Assemblies can be prevented from doing exactly what General Assemblies did before collective bargaining – simply deciding not to fund or to underfund, their pension promises.
The public service workers who rely upon the General Assembly to keep its promises deserve better. Working families, public or private, who rely upon the General Assembly to provide the services they and our communities need, and upon which our economy depends deserve better. Connecticut deserves better.
Thank you,
Daniel E Livingston,
on behalf of SEBAC Leadership
Administrative & Residual Union, Local 4200/AFT
AFT Connecticut
American Association of University Professors – CSU
American Association of University Professors – UCONN
American Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees -Council 4
Congress of Connecticut Community Colleges/SEIU Local 1973
Connecticut Association of Prosecutors
Connecticut Employees Union Independent/SEIU Local 511
Connecticut Federations of School Administrators Local 61
Connecticut Police and Fire Union/IAFF-IUPA
Connecticut State Police Union
CSEA SEIU Local 2001
International Brotherhood of Police Officers/SEIU Local 731
Judicial Professional Employees Union
New England Healthcare Employees Union, District 1199/SEIU
UCONN Health Center Faculty-AAUP
posted 10/12