Unions ratify labor savings plan

House Dems want budget by end of July

In a flurry of events that brings Connecticut lawmakers closer to finally enacting a new budget that already is three weeks late, more than 45,400 unionized state employees overwhelmingly approved $1.5 billion in concessions Tuesday, but called for higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy.

While Republicans said more savings could be reached if collective-bargaining law were changed, House Democrats said they are on track to push through a two-year, $40 billion budget by the end of the month.

But with an 18-18 tie in the Senate and a narrow 79-72 edge in the House, Democrats will need all their members, during the height of the summer vacation season, if they are to approve the union deal and biennial budget.

Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz would not detail whether his caucus, which supports raising the sales tax, would back higher income taxes.

Meanwhile, hundreds of advocates for the disabled, programs for whom are facing massive cuts, filled the Capitol during a noontime event that resulted in the arrests of five wheelchair-bound people who crowded into the

governor’s office and were charged with second-degree trespassing.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s deal with state employee unions was approved unanimously by all bargaining units, with an 83 percent to 17 percent margin of victory in the popular vote.

The deal culminates nine months of negotiations with Malloy’s labor-negotiating team, which pushed changes in health benefits and retirement plans for tens of thousands of state employees in exchange for five years of job security. The deal includes higher co-pays, a pay freeze and a hybrid, 401(k)-style retirement plan for up to 16,000 new state employees expected to be hired over the next five years.

“This agreement contains significant shortterm savings that will be the foundation of a responsible, balanced budget,” Malloy said. “They agreed to historic concessions that will put the state on a sus- tainable path.”

A few blocks away from the Capitol, during a latemorning news conference, hundreds of union members gathered to commemorate the approval of the givebacks by 15 units that are members of the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition. The vote was 83 percent in favor and 17 percent opposed, with passage from each unit.

“State workers who provide invaluable services to our communities just saved the state $1.56 billion over the next two years,” said Darnell Ford, a Department of Children and Families worker who led the news conference. He said that if lawmakers closed the tax loophole in the socalled carried interest income enjoyed by hedge fund employees, the state could generate $550 million. “Another $500 million in revenue could be generated by increasing the capital gains tax rate and taxes on the most wealthy.”