Privacy Policy. To be prepared to comply with this change, all employers should do the following prior to June 1: . The Senate gave final approval by a 22-13 vote on a plan to give unionized state workers a set of raises and bonuses. The long session, as non-election years are called in Hartford, will be centered around the biennial budget. ALERT: Tell lawmakers to vote NO on the TCI Gas Tax Loophole that forces CT residents to pay unlimited energy taxes! Lamont said the state has to live within its means, but state employees did extraordinary work during the worst of the pandemic and inflation has increased costs. CT Gov. And thats why we want to work with you to build a broad-based coalition to encourage sound policy reforms to enable Connecticut residents to forge a better future for themselves and their families. Hed also like to talk about a classification system that is flexible and provides a career ladder. Driven by a surge in state employee retirements, Connecticut's spending on pension payments ballooned to a recordhigh $2.5 billion in 2022, state data shows. It will slow cost-of-living adjustments for all new retirees and raise health costs for a few, primarily high earners. Ned Lamont previously touted. The raises will cost the state $13.3 million and the bonuses $2 million. CONNECTICUT State officials announced the tentative state employee union bargaining agreement, which calls for multiple years of raises and bonus payments. Gov. McCaw said some of the prior management positions that are now unionized include the assistant attorney general, state police captains and lieutenants, supervisors with the Department of Children and Families, parole managers and deputy wardens. If you have employees affected by the . As many as 13,000 state employees will be eligible for retirement by July 2022, according to the state Comptroller's office. We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. Based on the statutes governing Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) for CTRB members, the Connecticut Teachers' Retirement Board will be granting COLA as follows. The agreement calls for 2.5 percent general wage increases and step increases retroactive to July 1, 2022. Now shes asking for help herself, One musician remembers what it was like to tour the world with singer and activist Harry Belafonte, Connecticut COVID data: Your town's infection rate, hospitalizations & vaccinations, Tracking health threats, one sewage sample at a time, COVID during pregnancy may alter brain development in boys. Republican House Leader Vincent Candelora of Branford, in a statement following Thursdays announcement questioned how the raises will affect not only current contract talks with union negotiators for rank-and-file workers who want more pay, but also the work of a new task force charged with studying this issue and reporting back to the legislature., Candelora attributed the structural gulf between non-union managers and unionized employees to a vicious circle that's fueled by people at the Capitol whose baseline position is to give state employee unions everything they want.. By 2020, the state paid $2.2 billion to 55,348 retirees. Changes to state employee retirement benefits will go into effect in July of 2022 Tier II is a non-contributory defined benefit retirement plan for most members. While we wait to see the thousands of individual and committee bills that while dominate the myriad policy debates this year, Yankee Institute is hard at work promoting free-market solutions to the problems we face from Stamford to Putnam and Mystic to Salisbury. As a State of Connecticut employee you may be entitled to a host of benefits that are not only attractive, but also may be portable should your career . The increases, part of a four-year package negotiated by Gov. The comptrollers office cautions that some those eligible to retire will not yet have earned full retirement benefits, giving some an incentive to stay. 2023 The Conneticut News Project. The Malloy administration hired a customer-service expert to improve service at the much-maligned Department of Motor Vehicles, and Lamont won passage of legislation reducing the need for residents to go to the DMV: Drivers licenses now are good for eight years, not six; and renewals of vehicle registrations come every three years, not two. Were working really hard to digitize everything we do.. But most House Republicans who spoke in Thursdays debate predicted taxpayers wouldnt be as happy as state employee unions are. One lump sum payment retroactive to 2021 with full-time employees receiving $2,500 and part-time employees receiving a prorated amount $1,000 lump sum payment effective fiscal 2023 and prorated for part-time employees Bonuses would be prorated for part-time employees. The Florida House and Senate are working on a budget whose bottom line for state workers is a $224 million pay raise - that's about $44 a week, ($2,300 annually) for the 97,000 employees in the . Ned Lamont in Hartford on May 3. The proposed contract is generous. I would say that largely we havent seen that partnership happen, but we continue to have the door wide open, Glidden said. Hartford lawyer Daniel Livingston, chief negotiator for the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition, or SEBAC, estimated that going with one-time bonuses and a smaller 2.5% annual cost-of-living raise saves the state about $150 million over the next decade. About 1,700 management-level state employees will receive pay raises, an effort by Gov. Fazio said it reflects the pull unions have on state government, and that taxpayers will end up footing the bill. This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Publics Members October 25, 2021 @ In hiring the 44-year-old Geballe, the governor said he was bringing a fresh approach to a state government badly in need of modernization. That's an incentive to keep people working after that retirement date.". Gusty winds add new twist to brush fires in CT, officials say, What's next for the nuclear waste that's been in CT for 50 years, Building emissions are a key climate change contributor in CT, After decades in unmarked grave, CT homicide victim put to rest. Efficiency is easier in concept than in actual practice. Photos: Iconic Landmarks To Visit Across CT. The Senate gave final approval Friday to a four-year package of raises for state employees that includes $3,500 in bonuses to help stem a surge in worker retirements. The Democratic-controlled Senate voted 22-13 along party lines to approve the contracts, which cover about 46,000 workers the bulk of the state's workforce. A wave of state employee retirements is expected in the coming months, resulting in an "unprecedented" loss of knowledge and skills, some officials say. Automation is a word that makes unions nervous, even as they acknowledge the nature of work is changing. Connecticut Property Taxes In Every Town: Who Pays The Most? The contracts, which Gov. State finances also are being supported this fiscal year and next by about $3 billion in emergency federal pandemic relief. Its, Well, thats the way weve always done it. . EVENT: Mark Pazniokas will sit down with Gov. The State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition represents 35 different bargaining units and more than 40,000 state employees. Let us be clear. Opinion: Gov. November 3, 2021 @ But that surge followed a nearly decade-long stretch in which state tax receipts from the same source badly underperformed. Comment * document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "ad6f3785a83847b97c7976185623d348" );document.getElementById("h4d5fc382f").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); 216 Main StreetHartford, CT 06106[emailprotected], 2021 Yankee Institute for Public Policy. Julia Bergman is a former reporter with Hearst Connecticut Media Group. There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. I dont believe, fundamentally, that this agreement is fair at all.. Not this weeks data release showing that the median American household saw its income fall 2.9 percent last year while Connecticut state employees got a 5.5 percent wage increase. Here are five things to know about the deal: Employees covered by the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition would get a 2.5 percent wage increase and step increases retroactive to July 1, 2021. building a betterand more civilConnecticut to live, work, and play. Likely, the governors spinmeisters will follow the lead of union leaders in referring to all state employees as frontline workers, although many agencies were closed to the public during most of the pandemic. I think were at a time where change is coming, whether people like it or not. The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Workers and Clerical Workers known as the CPI-W increased 6 percent between July of 2020 and July of 2021, according the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with the price of nearly everything increasing substantially in recent months. SEBAC employees who are employed before March . He is one of the mid-career, private-sector executives to join the administration of Gov. Your email address will not be published. DARRELL HACKETT The year over year increases drive up the amount paid out by Connecticut's severely underfunded State Employee Retirement System. (Sorry for the caps, wont let me shift), Hope McKiernan CT Saw Jobs Lost in December, Revised Private Sector Gains from 3,300 to 300, Evictions remain significantly down in Bridgeport, Hartford after end of eviction moratorium, Film Tax Credit Expansion Receives Criticism Across the Aisle, Its Christmas Time for the General Assembly but Not Everyone is Happy, UConn Says New Freedom of Expression Bill Not Necessary, Testimony in Opposition of HB 6929 Submitted by Bryce Chinault, Director of External Affairs, Connecticuts Voting Tabulators are Unreliable and Unserviceable, Over 200,000 people have moved out of Connecticut since 2010, as state economy declined, Dont Be Mean to Government Officials or Theyll Take Free Speech Away, Public Sector Job Growth Beats Out Private Sector In July. Thermo Fisher Scientific bought the company the same year. The coalition, which represents most state employee unions excluding the state police, added that, It is a critical step in resolving the current staffing crisis that is the consequence of decades of disinvestment and austerity., Lamont spokeswoman Lora Rae Anderson said, Were happy the House has passed the SEBAC agreement, and we are hopeful the Senate will do the same.. If youre going to get a bonus, youve got to stick around with us for a while, said Rep. Jay Case, R-Winsted. Management-level CT state employees to get 7.5 percent raises, Police: Two men arrested after pulling gun at Stratford gym, Police: Homeowner scares off burglar in Trumbull, Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media, 2023 Hearst Media Services Connecticut, LLC, Milford robotics team wins division at international contest, Power restored after 1,500 outages reported in Fairfield, Police: CT woman lied about fake cops robbing her of $15K, M&T Bank backs push to diversify Bridgeport's nonprofit boards, Only a third of young Bridgeport students reading at grade level, Bridgeport's building chief: Remington was 'imminent danger', Bridgeport schools officials plead for added funding, CT doctor gets 4 years for fraud, illegally recruiting patients, CT records first cases of new COVID variant Arcturus, transmission remains low, 5 cute towns, cities and neighborhoods in CT to visit for a spring day, Connecticut women charged with stealing nearly $17K from public assistance programs, ESPN's Dan Orlovsky wears blazer lined with UConn logo in honor of men's basketball title: 'Go puppies', Former UConn women's basketball star Lou Lopez Snchal sidelined to start Dallas Wings training camp, Power restored to 1,500 customers in Fairfield after tree falls on utility lines.

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