Lawmakers in late April approved significant investments in the state workforce, capping union members’ efforts aimed at successor contracts. Our latest quarterly collective bargaining report showcases seven affiliated public employee locals and their wider coalition’s landmark achievement – their first such agreements without concessions in more than a decade. Together they demonstrated how a seat at the table is about much more than pay raises and better conditions.
Leaders collectively representing 43,000 working people in late 2019 began preparations for negotiations with state executive and judicial branch agency chiefs. Union members the following spring began engaging in a series of coordinated worksite, community and political actions that eventually yielded mutually-agreed upon guidelines for unit agreements.
Click here to watch highlights of our AFT Connecticut-affiliated University Health Professionals (UHP)’s May, 2021 informational picket.
The State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC)’s February, 2022 blueprint, anchored by a new cost-saving health plan benefit, served as a pattern for individual unions’ negotiating committees. They all reached tentative agreements with state agency representatives by early March that were then presented to their respective memberships for review and ratification.
“Overcoming more than a few bumps over the past 18 months, state employees have again proven that collective bargaining works,” said Kathy Fischer (third from left in back row, above), the University of Connecticut’s Women’s Center Associate Director. “What we accomplished here was far more than simply winning reasonable raises for our members. We secured a better future for the students who depend on us each and every day,” added Fischer, president of our University of Connecticut Employees Association (UCPEA).
Fischer’s comments refer to the public good served by the new union contracts, which will help stem the tide of a “silver tsunami” anticipated in July. Thousands of state employee retirements were expected, which combined with decades of staffing shortfalls, threatened to destabilize vital services the public depends on.
The four year agreements include significant annual pay raises for the first three, with wages to be determined in the final during “re-opener” negotiations. Additional lump sum payments promise to both boost retention and recruitment at a critical time.
Click here for recent press reporting on the contracts’ historic state workforce investments.
Members of all seven AFT Connecticut-affiliated local unions in SEBAC throughout March voted overwhelmingly in favor of their unit’s collective bargaining agreements.
Click here for the announcement that State Vocational Federation of Teachers members ratified their new union contract.
Click here for a photo of our Connecticut Association of Assistant Attorneys General’s negotiating committee announcing their win.
Click here for photos of Federation of Technical College Teachers members voting to approve their new unit contract.
Click here for our announcement of UCPEA’s contract ratification.
Click here for photos of Judicial Professional Employees (JPE) Union members casting ballots for their full bargaining unit agreement.
Click here for a photo of our Administrative & Residual (A&R) Employees Union’s negotiating committee reviewing members’ ratification votes.
Click here for our announcement of UHP members’ agreement approval.
The General Assembly in separate chamber votes last week approved resolutions in favor of the SEBAC health plan benefit and all of the coalition’s 35 individual unit contracts.
Click here for our announcement of final legislative approval of the SEBAC and individual unit agreements.
Legislative approval sets in motion pay raises and a first lump sum payment for union members in their June 17 paychecks. The schedule for retroactive wage increases and step movements at press time had not yet been announced by the Office of the State Comptroller.
Final action on 10 additional local unions’ contracts or arbitration decisions have been announced since January, setting a record for the most reported in a quarterly report to date.
Click here for photos of L&M Hospital Health Care Workers (HCW) union leaders celebrating their hiring practices win.
Click here for the announcement that our Fairfield Public Health Nurses’ new contract was approved and finalized.
Click here for a collage of photos of Western Connecticut United Professionals casting ballots for their successor contract.
Click here for photos of West Hartford Federation of Educational Secretaries’ members ratifying their new collective bargaining agreement.
Click here for a collage of photos of Manchester Federation of Registered Nurses members participating in their ratification.
Click here for the declaration of victory for Salem Federation of Teachers members’ contract ratification and sign-off.
Click here for the announcement that JPE Union members won legislative approval for an earlier wage arbitration award.
Click here for the announcement of our CREC Health Professionals’ recently approved new contract.
Click here for a photo of our Hartford Federation of Teachers’ negotiating committee celebrating their ratified, resolved contract.
Click here for the announcement that our Hartford Federation of Special Police Officers’ contract was approved and finalized.
Five recent settlements and arbitration decisions at press time have not yet been finalized. Twenty-five local unions are currently engaged in active negotiations or the arbitration process.
