New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
State Senate approves $1.9 billion contracts for state employees
HARTFORD — The state Senate on Friday put the finishing touches on a fouryear contract package for 46,000 state workers, including 2.5 percent pay raises and as much as $3,500 in bonuses for some workers that is worth about $1.9 billion.
A potential fourth-year pay hike has not been negotiated and will be subject to a so-called reopener in 2025 between the state and the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition. The package passed the House of Representatives mostly along party lines on Thursday and does not need the signature of
Gov. Ned Lamont, whose staff negotiated the deal.
State Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, co-chairwoman of the legislative Appropriations Committee, led the two-hour debate, noting that private sector businesses are increasing wages, and the state has to raise pay to keep top-level state workers. She pointed out that municipal firefighters in Fairfield are looking for 4 percent pay hikes in a pending arbitration case, while Florida Gov. Ron DeStantis has approved raises for state employees in excess of 5 percent.
“This is a necessary contract so that we can hold onto the best and brightest,” Osten said, citing Hearst CTInsider columnist Dan Haar, who wrote that rejecting the contract could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in eventual arbitration awards. “We need our state employees. If we value them we need to pay them. We need to let them know that we want them to stay as employees of the state of Connecticut.”
Osten added that employees hired since 2017 are enrolled in a 401(k)-type retirement plan, as opposed to the more generous defined benefit program for veteran workers. In recent years, state employees have had no pay hikes.
But Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly, R-Stratford, said that at a time of rising inflation and price hikes, the state cannot afford the deal.
“There seems to be, under the Capitol dome, an almost false sense of security,” Kelly said to his Senate colleagues. “Unfortunately, the people who send us here, the people who pay the bills, are struggling.”
Kelly and his top deputy, Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, noted that the $1.9 billion divided among the 46,000 employees, amounts to $40,000 over the four years, or $10,000 a year.
Supporters of the SEBAC contract called that $40,000 figure deceptive and false. The $1.87 billion cost estimate includes pension deposits and raises carried over throughout the life of the contract; for example, a raise of $2,000 this year will be part of an employee's base pay and is counted as $8,000 in the estimate, separate from raises in the next two years.
Sen. Craig Miner, R-Litchfield, a top Republican on the
Appropriations Committee, wasn't sure that there will be enough money, including federal pandemic relief, to support the raises. He said that although the fiscalreview apparatus is pretty extensive in the legislature, he is “struggling” with all the potential commitments.
“These are all important policies,” Miner said, noting that final budget adjustment for the fiscal year that starts on July 1 have not been finalized. “Some would argue that they are more important than the SEBAC agreement,” said Miner, who is not seeking reelection after more than 20 years in the General Assembly. “The priority of the majority is to make sure this SEBAC agreement gets voted before anything else ”
In a statement released through SEBAC, union members stressed the need for the new contract.
“This agreement is a recognition that state employees provide not only the safety nets that keep our neighbors safe, but also the infrastructure that supports innovation, culture, social mobility and justice for the residents of Connecticut,” said Cindy Stretch, a professor of English at SCSU and a member of the American Association of University Professors.
“My students depend on the public sector to provide an excellent education. They will go on to give back to their communities for decades to come. It's a virtuous cycle.” .