Union leaders say no to bylaw changes;
Malloy asks agency heads to identify cuts
By Marcus Hatfield Journal Inquirer
Published: Saturday, July 2, 2011 2:07 AM EDT
State employee union leaders said Friday they
would not make any changes to their bylaws that would affect their members’
rejection of a two-year, $1.6 billion concession package sought by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
Also Friday, Benjamin Barnes, Malloy’s budget director, sent a memo to state
department heads asking them to identify by the end of next week cuts to their
departments that would eliminate almost 7,700 positions statewide.
In a meeting Friday, the leaders of the 15 state employee unions in the State
Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition, or SEBAC, opted not to amend their bylaws
to reverse votes by members over the past several weeks to spurn the concession
agreement negotiated between Malloy and union leaders.
Matthew O’Connor, a SEBAC spokesman, said union leaders would respect the
ratification process but also adopted a resolution to consider changes to the
bylaws that would govern future agreements.
“Union leaders are confident and we are concentrating on the
path forward,” O’Connor told reporters outside the Capitol on Friday afternoon.
“We’re not looking behind, we’re looking ahead.”
A 57 percent majority of rank-and-file union members voted to accept the
concessions and savings agreement, but only 11 of the 15 member unions accepted
it. Under the coalition’s bylaws, the agreement required the approval of at
least 14 bargaining units.
O’Connor said union leaders would meet again Tuesday and that they are
exploring “every possible option” to strike a deal. He said he expected the
coalition would announce a game plan after next week’s meeting, though he could
not provide any details of what that plan might include.
Larry Dorman, another SEBAC spokesman, said that although Malloy has said he
will not renegotiate the concessions agreement, the governor also doesn’t want
to see layoffs.
Malloy also has said he is willing to “clarify” issues, such as concerns about
a new value-health care plan that requires participants to receive annual
physicals and age-appropriate medical tests.
O’Connor said leaders have discussed the possibility of another vote on the
agreement, but that he didn’t know what the coalition ultimately would do. He
added that the group’s options would be made available to its members over the
next several days.
Dorman said the coalition’s most important goal is to prevent the “economic
chaos” that would result from thousands of layoffs and cuts to services.
“We have a moral obligation and responsibility to find a way out of this,”
Dorman said, adding that the group would move as expeditiously as possible
because layoffs already have started. “Time is not an ally.”
O’Connor said he is confident the coalition would be able to strike a deal
because “the alternative is unacceptable.”
Barnes: Layoff plans due July 8
In his memo to state department heads, Barnes called
for proposed reductions for each department by July 8 so Malloy can meet a July
15 deadline to present a plan to the legislature, which expanded his rescission
authority during a special session this week to make cuts and balance the state
budget.
Barnes also provided savings targets for each department, which include the
reduction of a total of 7,675 positions. About 1,000 of those positions are
vacant.
“The budget challenge facing the state means that we can no longer afford the
structure and services currently in place given the failure to ratify the tentative
agreement between the state and SEBAC,” Barnes wrote. “Consequently, and
regretfully, we must downsize state government over the biennium.”
To the extent possible, he wrote, “proposals should be designed to be
implemented quickly.”
With 1,170 positions targeted, the Department of Correction faces the largest
number of layoffs, and the Department of Transportation second with 1,067.
Other departments facing large cuts include the Department of Developmental
Services, with 602 targeted positions; the Department of Mental Health and
Addiction Services, 580 positions; the Board of Regents for Higher Education,
535 positions; and the Department of Children and Families, 408 positions.
The plan outlined by the Office of Policy and Management calls for a savings of
just over $700 million in fiscal year 2012 and about $900 million in 2013.
The reductions would equal about 16.6 percent of the state workforce, which
currently has a total of 46,352 employees.
Barnes also ordered the cancellation of all vacant positions regardless of
whether funds have been appropriated for them. The positions were “deemed
abolished” as of Thursday, he wrote.
An Associated Press report is included in this story.