A Step Toward Reducing Government: Union Concessions Ratified

We are in the final weeks of session, and the race against the clock is beginning. Any bill that is not voted on by both House and Senate by midnight on June 3rd will die on the calendar. It is typically a gratifying feeling to finish session, but this year, it will be less satisfying because it is unlikely that a final budget will be crafted before the end. Last week, however, the General Assembly closed a chapter in the budget process by approving the SEBAC agreement, which constitutes approximately $730 million in labor savings for 2010 and 2011.In our vote, the General Assembly was without power to amend the agreement. We merely had to vote for or against it. Many legislators had to come to terms with the fact that this agreement contained a no layoff provision for two years. My first reaction was, how can we guarantee state employees jobs when the private sector is laying people off every day? We need to shrink government, and how does that happen without layoffs?

An important fact put my feelings into perspective. If negotiations failed and the Governor was forced to layoff state employees in order to achieve the $700 million in savings that the agreement created, she would have to layoff 6,500 state employees or 12% of the entire workforce in order to achieve the same amount of savings. This number does not even factor in the cost of unemployment expenses and more people out of work. The ratified agreement will not only reduce the workforce by an estimated 3,500 employees through early retirement and a hard hiring freeze, but it will allow government to consolidate agencies and move employees into other agencies in order to effectuate these reductions.

Our state workers had a valid, binding agreement through 2017. If they wanted, they could have refused to negotiate. One can certainly question the wisdom of entering into such a long contract; however, the Governor faced those facts and both the unions and Governor stepped up to negotiate the agreement. The package also includes a total of 7 furlough days, a no wage increase in 2010, a $350 permanent annual increase to health insurance premiums, employees with four years or less must pay an additional 3% into the retirees health insurance fund, pharmacy co-pay increases from $3 and $6 to $5 and $10, and in order to qualify for retiree health insurance, an employee’s age plus years of service must equal at least 75.

Soon after this agreement was ratified, the unions began running commercials that they have given, and now it was time for the wealthy corporations to give. In other words, let’s raise taxes. Ninety five percent of the Connecticut economy is driven by small business. Income in Connecticut has dropped 40% this year alone, and the economy is just beginning to flatten out. Some projections indicate that we will loss another 40,000 jobs before the recession ends. I take exception with the suggestion that there is wealth left in Connecticut to tax. There is a better way and that involves smaller government.