Republicans rap union stewards for doing their business on state time

 

By Ed Jacovino
Journal Inquirer

Published: Tuesday, April 5, 2011 11:05 AM EDT

 

HARTFORD — State employee unions have 911 “stewards” who make an average of $62,618 a year and are allowed to conduct union business on state time, Republican lawmakers said.

Now is the time to address that, the minority legislators said Monday in urging Democrats and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to change labor contracts.

“Union activity should be paid for with union dues. State activity should be paid for by the state taxpayers,” Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, said. “It’s that simple.”

Having 911 union stewards means one out of every 50 state employees is allowed to conduct union business while on the clock, Republicans said. They want Democrats to change labor contracts to lower the number of union stewards and to bar them from handling union issues on state time.

Union stewards are elected or appointed by the union membership. Their duties include taking initial complaints from union members and trying to work them out with management.

McKinney, along with House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, said the salaries and benefits for the union stewards total $93 million a year.

The stewards are guaranteed seniority and so would avoid layoffs. While their average salary is $62,618, the top steward earns $201,700, Republicans said.

McKinney couldn’t say how much the state would save by barring stewards from doing union business while on the clock. That’s because there’s no uniform method for recording when they clock in and out, he said.

Union officials contend the stewards actually save the state money. By resolving labor issues quickly, they cut down the need for long, costly legal battles, Lori Pelletier, a lobbyist for AFL-CIO Connecticut, said.

“They’re solving problems — they’re going out, they’re trying to resolve issues before they get into a written form,” she said. “If they can go out and get that done with a phone call or a visit or a discussion, that saves the state money in the long run.”

As for seniority, Pelletier said it protects stewards from being “a target for management to go after.”

Malloy, who’s in talks with state employee unions to try to get $1 billion in concessions and savings for the fiscal year that starts July 1, said the issue could come up in negotiations.

“The reality is that these positions exist,” Malloy said. “It’s a matter of past practice. It’s written into a number of the contracts.”

He later said: “If it was up to me to design the system, would I design this one? The answer is no.”

Cafero said the system must change. Every time a steward handles union business, the state has to pay another employee to do the work, he said.

“It’s very susceptible to abuse,” Cafero said. “There is no incentive — because the unions aren’t paying for it out of their pocket — to curtail, limit, or control the amount of time.”