The Senate gave final approval Friday to a four-year package of raises for state employees that includes $3,500 in bonuses to help stem a surge in worker retirements. We have three years to plan for that, Geballe said. They also cover the next two fiscal years and potentially 2024-25 as well. Lamont, who said that in June 2020 when asked about the pay raise to take effect just days later on July 1. Glidden said the Malloy administration made overtures about a labor-management review of state government in concession talks in 2011 and again in 2017. Ned Lamont previously touted. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts. The state also faces a potential wave of retirements. In addition, full-time workers would receive a $2,500 bonus in mid-May and an additional $1,000 bonus in mid-July. Hartford lawyer Daniel Livingston, chief negotiator for the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition, or SEBAC, estimated that going with one-time bonuses and a smaller 2.5% annual cost-of-living raise saves the state about $150 million over the next decade. Connecticut State Department of Administrative Services CT.gov Home Department of Administrative Services Human Resources Business Rules and Regulations Compensation Salary Increase Division of Criminal Justice (DCJ) Salary Increase Non-Represented Employees Expense Reimbursement/Meal Allowance Pay Differential Longevity Recruitment Pay Your email address will not be published. In the past 10 years, the number of management-level state employees has dropped from 2,000 to 1,400, with nearly all of them choosing to leave their posts to join bargaining units and another 60 petitions currently pending, McCaw said. House passes raises, bonuses for CT state employees By Keith M. Phaneuf / CTMirror.org Published April 21, 2022 at 5:22 PM EDT The House of Representatives approved a four-year package of raises Thursday that includes $3,500 in bonuses later this spring and summer for about 46,000 unionized state employees. (His mother, Shelley, a lawyer and professor of public health at Yale, is a founding board member of the nonprofit Connecticut News Project Inc., operator of CTMirror.org.). She noted that West Virginia recently granted state employees a 5% raise while Arizona bumped pay for its correction officers by 20% and for workers in many other departments by 10%. All Rights Reserved. Ned Lamont in Darien earlier this month. 4:04 pm. If you value the story you just read please consider making a donation. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. Amazon and others in the private sector have made it very easy to envision what that future could look like, if you think about online shopping or online bank services, Geballe said. A wave of state employee retirements is expected in the coming months, resulting in an "unprecedented" loss of knowledge and skills, some officials say. As we go into a time period where we expect a significant number of retirements, we want to make sure that we can attract and retain top talent across all of our agencies whether in management or non-management positions, McCaw said. Bonuses are prorated for part-time employees. Critics say the deal is too generous and could lead to future tax hikes. Currently, the only way to advance in most agencies is for someone to retire, leaving a specific job open. Required fields are marked *. Ned Lamont is negotiating a new wage contract with the State Employees Bargaining Alliance Coalition. Part of the 2017 SEBAC Agreement between the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition and Gov. GOP minority says taxpayers got a raw deal, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window). "Often they work in dorms where there are one or two officers to keep peace among 100 of more inmates, said Sean Howard, a corrections officer at Cheshire Correctional Institution. With the benefit of five and a half months, Im increasingly confident that is true.. Good question Hope I cant find the answer either. Some Republicans have said the hefty bonuses are only an election-year stunt from Lamont, a Democrat, to shore up his standing with his labor base. The. Ned Lamont and president of state's network of community colleges square off in showdown over state funding. building a betterand more civilConnecticut to live, work, and play. The $2,000 payment will only be available to employees who were hired or appointed before June 30, 2018. There is ample evidence that this is a fair contract, a reasonable contract, an affordable contract, she said of Connecticuts wage hikes. The [nonprofit] industry pegs the inflationary loss its taking on these payments at $460 million per year, according to the CT Mirror. ALERT: Tell lawmakers to vote NO on the TCI Gas Tax Loophole that forces CT residents to pay unlimited energy taxes! But most House Republicans who spoke in Thursdays debate predicted taxpayers wouldnt be as happy as state employee unions are. We felt one of the most efficient ways and equitable ways to make a dent in this challenge was to go back and provide those same increases to the managers that had already been given to our union employees.. But the Lamont administration is facing a gathering wave of retirements, producing a sense of urgency that Geballe says is shared by labor and management. DAgostino said he believes arbitrators would have awarded unions annual cost-of-living raises of 3% or 3.5% given the state governments enhanced ability to pay. The study also found that Connecticut state employees are compensated 33 percent more than a similar private sector employee when pension, healthcare and other fringe benefits are taken into account. The easiest way out of the crisis is to keep employees on board by offering them generous pay and benefit incentives. November 3, 2021 @ Were losing some of our best and brightest as they seek other parts of the country where its easier to make a living. The contracts allow workers to accept the $2,500 extra payment and still retire before July 1. Weve seen clerical workers go from a high of almost 9,000 to 4,000.. With this agreement, we were able to achieve those goals in a realistic way that does not imperil our future prospects and honors the great service that has and will continue to benefit our residents, Lamont said in a statement. The Office of the State Comptroller reports that state government found a way to spend $47.11 billion in 2022 and, if trends continue, we can expect that number to grow even more going forward. Julia Bergman is a former reporter with Hearst Connecticut Media Group. But more than that, this is a necessary contract so that we can hold onto the best and brightest., This contract gives the state flexibility when hiring the most high-need jobs, recognizes the incredible institutional knowledge on our team, and the work state employees have done throughout the pandemic, said Lamont spokeswoman Lora Rae Anderson. The state is so intractable about its longterm bureaucratic practices. This is a carousel. They also cover the next two fiscal years and potentially 2024-25 as well. The state is also hoping the increases will also attract more people to state-level management positions. Thirty percent intend to leave the state upon retirement. Gusty winds add new twist to brush fires in CT, officials say, What's next for the nuclear waste that's been in CT for 50 years, Building emissions are a key climate change contributor in CT, After decades in unmarked grave, CT homicide victim put to rest. She noted that West Virginia recently granted state employees a 5% raise, while Arizona bumped pay for its correction officers by 20% and for workers in many other departments by 10%. About 1,700 management-level state employees will receive pay raises, an effort by Gov. Thermo Fisher Scientific bought the company the same year. There will be no guaranteed minimum for those who retire after July 1, 2022, and their first potential COLA would come in 30 months, not 12. The contracts allow workers to accept the $2,500 extra payment and still retire before July 1. Number one: What if the state developed a way for citizens to be known across agencies by the end of 2022?. How will schools be implementing to curriculum requirements? The agreement would cost the state nearly $1.9 billion over four fiscal years, according to nonpartisan fiscal analysts. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. In a letter to his co-chair in management, Rinker wrote: I predict that some day some one will want to change state employment and the report you signed off on wil be the basis for that change., Change is coming for Connecticut state employees, 2023 Hearst Media Services Connecticut, LLC, Police: Pedestrian killed in crash on Route 9 in Middletown, Police: Horses starved, kept in unsanitary conditions on CT farm, Middletown to restart Bird e-bike, scooter microtransit program, Middletown residents cheer decision to fully replace Pameacha dam, Cromwell man sentenced for carjacking date at knifepoint in 2020, Police: Suspect in Cromwell hotel robbery threatened to use a gun, Middletown Mayor Ben Florsheim begins campaign for 2nd term, 2 Middletown youths charged in connection with school fight, Middlesex County Historical Society to receive 3 historic objects, East Hampton fire department marks 100 years with Bevin cowbells, Police: Pedestrian struck, killed in Route 9 crash in Middletown, New Britain bar's liquor license suspended after serving alcohol to minors, officials say, Police: Horses starved and kept in unsanitary conditions on Middletown property, Police: Threat made to Middletown schools deemed not credible, CT records first cases of new COVID variant Arcturus, transmission remains low, Police: Mystic woman killed, mother and daughter seriously hurt in Gold Star Highway crash in Groton. The coalition, which represents most state employee unions excluding the state police, added that, It is a critical step in resolving the current staffing crisis that is the consequence of decades of disinvestment and austerity., Lamont spokeswoman Lora Rae Anderson said, Were happy the House has passed the SEBAC agreement, and we are hopeful the Senate will do the same.. The bonuses, the GOP argued, are hardly the key to retaining workers, as the governor and other Democrats claim. Ned Lamont believes it will keep critical state workers on the job. Ned Lamont's administration and a coalition of . Negotiators will meet again to determine raises after the time period. Attracting people to fill managerial roles will become even more important as the state prepares for a coming wave of employees retiring next year. 90% of our revenue is contributed. DAS says the process was cheaper, nearly paperless, and attracted a diverse pool of applicants with a third more women and minorities and a 105-percent increase in veterans. CT State Employees Get Scheduled Raise Amid Economic Turmoil State employees covered by unions got a 3.5 percent pay raise and two percent step increase as the state looks at massive budget deficits. Now shes asking for help herself, One musician remembers what it was like to tour the world with singer and activist Harry Belafonte, Connecticut COVID data: Your town's infection rate, hospitalizations & vaccinations, Tracking health threats, one sewage sample at a time, COVID during pregnancy may alter brain development in boys. Were not attracting innovation and industry. The year over year increases drive up the amount paid out by Connecticuts severely underfunded State Employee Retirement System. Marc was a 2014 Robert Novak Journalism Fellow and his work has appeared in The Federalist, American Thinker, The Skeptical Inquirer, World Net Daily and Real Clear Policy. For retirees who receive their COLAs in January, the trend was more in their favor with three years of inflation increases topping 2 percent. Thats a big risk, but its also an amazing opportunity to reinvent how we do things, to bring in technology to automate a lot of the manual processes that can be more efficiently done by software today.. Deserves got nothing to do with it, Rep. Thomas ODea, R-Ledyard, said, citing the famous dialogue Clint Eastwoods Western outlaw uttered in Unforgiven, the 1992 Academy Award-winning film. What can be done to lower home heating bills? Each year includes a 2.5% general wage increase, as well as a step hike for all but the most senior workers. Connecticut has more per capita debt than most other states, and those long-term obligations are expected to put considerable pressure on state finances for decades to come. Josh Geballe, the commissioner of administrative services. Because the state is facing a massive retirement wave, which, if mishandled, could cripple state government. It is unsustainable and, more plainly, unjust. The Democrat-controlled House voted 96-52 to approve the contracts, after a four-hour debate during which Republicans insisted the compensation far outstrips what private-sector workers are receiving, or what taxpayers can afford. Were working really hard to digitize everything we do.. His predecessor, Robert J. Rinker, co-chaired a labor-management committee that addressed some of the same issues now under review. Comment * document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "ad6f3785a83847b97c7976185623d348" );document.getElementById("h4d5fc382f").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); 216 Main StreetHartford, CT 06106[emailprotected], 2021 Yankee Institute for Public Policy. When the CPI-W rises above 2 percent, those retirees will receive either 2 percent or a percentage of the rate of inflation, depending on how high the rate rises. Josh Geballe, the states chief operating officer and commissioner of the Department of Administrative Services, said state agency heads have found it difficult to promote top performers in their departments because the employees would either have to take a pay cut or worry they wont be afforded the same prospective increases as those in bargaining units. State and union officials are expected to meet again in the fourth year to negotiate wages. Gov. We had more people employed in the private sector in 2007 than we do today. . I would say that largely we havent seen that partnership happen, but we continue to have the door wide open, Glidden said. They also cover the next two fiscal years and potentially 2024-25 as well. 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The deal works out to about $40,000 in raises per state employee over four years, Fazio said, which works out to about $1,300 per Connecticut household. The Connecticut State Legislature will begin its 2023 session on January 4thand will adjourn on June 7th. Though the list of reforms may be exhausting to review, it is far from exhaustive! Last March, in a report that received relatively little media coverage, Boston Consulting Group documented that 27 percent of the state workforce is eligible to retire before June 30, 2022, and that about three-quarters lean toward retirement. DAS is now working to centralize and streamline H.R. In 2015, Connecticut paid $1.7 billion to 49,111 retirees, according to the Comptrollers Open Pension website. Retired state employees now get annual cost-of-living adjustments: a minimum of 2 percent and a maximum of 7 percent, depending on inflation. By the latest estimates of the comptroller's office, 14,764 state employees a quarter of the workforce will be eligible to retire on July 1, 2022, when a concession deal negotiated in . The state and unions have the option of continuing the same level of raises for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2024, or they can negotiate different compensation levels. It will slow cost-of-living adjustments for all new retirees and raise health costs for a few, primarily high earners. I dont believe, fundamentally, that this agreement is fair at all.. If inflation were 1% Then the absolute COLA would be low, but the burden on the state budget and taxpayers would be growing, because inflation under 2% leads to a real pension burden increase. Watch Live at 7:00 PM: The U.S. and the Holocaust, a film by Ken Burns | Screening & Panel Discussion . Our economy has grown at one of the slowest rates in the nation for the past decade, and we are getting outpaced year after year. October 25, 2021 @ . 2:19 pm. Theres no way to take on the legacy of mass incarceration other than to undo it, one step at a time. They are our people, who we count on each day to make us safe, she said. "Today is Tax Day People want to know where their tax dollars are going, said Kim Healy, a GOP Wilton selectman running for the Connecticut House of Representatives. He said DAS has capable managers pushing for change, such as Hermes and the states chief information officer, Mark Raymond. functions now spread across agencies, just as Raymond recently struck a five-year deal with Microsoft that replaces a dozen separate agency agreements. Republicans countered Friday that the raises and bonuses far outstrip what households in the private sector are receiving. By the latest estimates of the comptrollers office, 14,764 state employees a quarter of the workforce will be eligible to retire on July 1, 2022, when a concession deal negotiated in 2017 by the administration of Gov. Osten said the raises reflect the valuable work state employees provide daily, and particularly throughout the coronavirus pandemic. See stories by Keith M. Phaneuf / CTMirror.org, Love Wins at WCSU benefit concert for saxophonists daughter lost at Sandy Hook, Week in CT News: Se'Cret Pierce killing, what's in our water, Zero interest loans are back for some home buyers in Connecticut, Erica Lafferty has been fighting since Sandy Hook. That will be followed by 2.5 percent raises on July 1, 2022 and July 1, 2023. The formula used took 60% of the increase in the Consumer Price Index ( CPI-W) up to 6% and . Its a matter of whether we can afford it.. Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. "I've got to recruit and keep them in order to keep our government going, he said. It could be because it is not supported, or that JavaScript is intentionally disabled. Union leaders say the workforce is ready, if wary. Gov. By 2020, the state paid $2.2 billion to 55,348 retirees. Because of the high rate of inflation, the July COLAs are calculated based on 60 percent of CPI-W, which translates to a bump of 3.6 percent as of July 2021. This proposed contract is a raw deal for the working people of this state, said Sen. Ryan Fazio, R-Greenwich, who noted state workers, on average, would receive more than $10,000 in total added compensation over four years. What tax reform proposals will there be? But two union leaders say they see the states expectations of a significant retirement wave as well-founded. April 23, 2023 . Retired Connecticut state employees will see a substantial bump to their pension payments as a result of increasing economic inflation. This proposed contract is a raw deal for the working people of this state, said Sen. Ryan Fazio, R-Greenwich, who noted state workers, on average, would receive more than $10,000 in total added compensation over four years. We were trying to get people not to retire well, thats not what this agreement does, said Sen. Craig Miner of Litchfield, ranking GOP senator on the Appropriations Committee. I think were at a time where change is coming, whether people like it or not. The virtually inevitable pay hikes and favorable benefit modifications will then be classified as hardship pay to reward for employees for their phantom frontline service.. Since 1997, the State has used a formula to calculate the minimum cost of living adjustment. Ned Lamont contracted with the Boston Consulting Group for a report of how to increase state government efficiency. Private-sector employees can only dream of having that, said Sen. Henri Martin, R-Bristol. This deal was billed as a retention effort, said Rep. Laura Devlin, R- Fairfield, who is campaigning for lieutenant governor as the running mate of GOP gubernatorial contender Bob Stefanowski of Madison. The Lamont administration, labor leaders and other supporters of the increases have said they believe unions could have gotten even larger raises had they rejected the states offer and gone to arbitration. My hypothesis coming in was that there are going to be more similarities to how we solve some of the challenges we have than differences, private to public, Geballe said. Fazio said it reflects the pull unions have on state government, and that taxpayers will end up footing the bill. In addition, full-time workers would receive a $2,500 bonus in mid-May and another $1,000 bonus in mid-July. The comptrollers office cautions that some those eligible to retire will not yet have earned full retirement benefits, giving some an incentive to stay. The agreement would cost the state nearly $1.9 billion over four fiscal years, according to nonpartisan fiscal analysts. Here are five things to know about the deal: Employees covered by the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition would get a 2.5 percent wage increase and step increases retroactive to July 1, 2021. In the prison system, there are separate classifications for supervisors of correctional industries, auto mechanics, data entry, printing, clothing, and general industries. Were hemorrhaging workers right now, DAgostino said. There is ample evidence that this is a fair contract, a reasonable contract, an affordable contract, she said of Connecticuts wage hikes. Raising minimum salary levels between 10% to 25% will give many frontline HHSC employees a reprieve from dire financial straits caused by the Texas Legislature's failure to provide across-the-board pay raises to state . That sum hasnt changed much in two decades. Glidden is now engaged with the administration on the possibility of some state government professionals teleworking. In 2015, Connecticut paid $1.7 billion to 49,111 retirees, according to the Comptroller's Open Pension website. The Office of Fiscal Analysis estimates the package will cost the state $1.87 billion over four years. Ned Lamont says are essential to help stem a surge in state employee retirements, are expected to be ratified Friday by the Senate, where Democrats also hold a majority.