Labor talks hit the rough before they even start

 

By Keith M. Phaneuf
Journal Inquirer

Published: Thursday, December 31, 2009 9:10 AM EST

 

HARTFORD — State employee unions and Gov. M. Jodi Rell hit a rough patch this week — even before the two sides actually began talks about any further labor concessions.

The State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition issued a statement contending Rell’s veto of the legislature’s $120 million deficit-reduction plan is “lacking vision” and chooses to protect the wealthy at the expense of the poor.

The coalition, which represents close to 50,000 unionized state employees, also called the governor’s proposal to expand her unilateral authority to reduce state spending a “power grab.”

This statement comes one week after Rell asked the unions to begin talks about further concessions to complement the wage and benefit givebacks agreed to in April.

 

“It is vital that the governor and the legislature address the structural change needed to fix Connecticut’s fiscal crisis,” the coalition wrote. “Cutting all appropriations won’t balance the budget. Governor Rell is staunchly protecting multimillion-dollar estates from even one dollar in taxes while she cuts programs that provide diapers for struggling families and the state’s economy spirals downward.”

Rell vetoed two bills Monday, leaving the state with a budget shortfall between $250 million and $500 million for this fiscal year.

The governor, a Republican, rejected one bill that would have canceled a Jan. 1 reduction in the estate tax. She also vetoed a second that featured $12.4 million in cuts and transferred about $23 million from special trusts and accounts to support the overall budget, calling that a “feeble” effort at reductions by the Democrat-controlled legislature.

As an alternative, Rell suggested lawmakers expand her budget-cutting powers. Democratic legislative leaders didn’t warm to that idea, and the unions wrote this week that “giving the governor more power to make harmful cuts to public services when people are struggling in a down economy would be unconscionable.”

After a record-setting budget standoff that extended two months into the current fiscal year, the legislature and Rell in September settled on an $18.64 billion budget that relies on an extra $800 million in annual taxes and fees.

But that budget fell several hundred million dollars into the red within two months of its adoption.

Democratic leaders have argued the cuts Rell wants to reduce the deficit fall heaviest on social services and health care for the poor, education programs, and town aid.

Rell said this week that she wants to cut labor expenses, one of the single-largest components in the state budget, though she has little leverage to force further worker concessions.

The governor and the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition negotiated a deal that the legislature ratified in the spring to save $700 million total — $100 million in 2008-09, and $300 million both this fiscal year and next.

The deal has been criticized by some legislators as asking too little from state workers.

About 90 percent of the state’s roughly 50,000 unionized workers must forfeit one of two annual raises they were to receive both this fiscal year and next, or some can forfeit both in one year.

Workers also must take seven unpaid days off, contribute more toward health benefits, and allow the state to reduce its contributions to the pension savings fund — though the actual pension benefits that must be paid out aren’t reduced.

The state also offered a retirement incentive program last summer to encourage more veteran workers to retire as soon as they are eligible.

In exchange for these concessions, all but two bargaining units are exempted from layoffs this fiscal year and next. The two that aren’t involved include about 5,200 prison guards and other prison staff and about 600 of their unionized supervisors. These two bargaining units didn’t agree to cancel raises or take unpaid days off.

West Hartford lawyer Daniel E. Livingston, the chief negotiator for SEBAC, said labor is willing to discuss ways to make government more efficient, but that doesn’t involve state workers giving up salaries or benefits.

The SEBAC statement issued this week reinforced that position.

The coalition “has repeatedly offered to collaborate with the governor to engage public service workers who have specific insights on ways to increase state government’s efficiency,” it read. “These ‘front line workers’ have years of experience in their agencies and have been ready to provide the administration with clear programmatic ideas on how the state can be more effective.”