“Gov. Malloy’s budget, passed today with the help of Democrats in the legislature, is shameful,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “Rather than ask Connecticut’s wealthiest to pay their fair share, they’re laying off dedicated public employees and slashing services working people rely on. At a time when the national conversation is focused on creating a fairer economy, it’s simply wrong for Connecticut’s legislators to pass this kind of anti-worker, pro-corporate budget. Make no mistake, this budget is hurting the services that all Connecticut residents need and deserve,” added Weingarten.
“Our members began reaching out to their lawmakers and urging rejection of this bad state budget package last week,” said AFT Connecticut President Jan Hochadel. “It was already poised to harm Connecticut’s quality of life by slashing state-funded services and eliminating rape crisis counselors, probation officers, nurses and thousands more state employees. By including changes to future budget calculations that willfully ignore the realities of inflation and cost increases, this is a job-killing budget for local communities too. The consequences for towns and schools will be severe — gutting public education and health and safety services, and laying off thousands more local teachers, first responders and road repair workers,” added Hochadel, who taught physics and science in the Connecticut Technical High School System.
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AFT Connecticut is a labor federation of nearly 30,000 women and men, including 6,800 Connecticut state employees who provide a diverse range of vital services; higher education administration and faculty, healthcare, vocational education, financial management and planning, probation and child support enforcement, banking and fiscal regulation, forensic investigations and analysis, and facilities inspection and enforcement. For more information, visit www.aftct.org or follow the labor federation on Twitter at @AFTCT and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/aftct.
