SEBAC

House and Senate Pass SEBAC & 4Cs Tentative Agreements

On July 31, the Connecticut Senate passed the SEBAC Tentative Agreement by a vote of 19-18, thanks to the tie breaking vote of Lt. Gov. Wyman. Last week, the Agreements were approved by the House by a margin of 78-72.
The SEBAC Tentative Agreement can be viewed here. The 4Cs Tentative Agreement can be viewed here (note: there are multiple agreements).
SEBAC Statement on Passage
“We commend the State Senators who voted yes and Lieutenant Governor Wyman for doing the right thing on behalf of Connecticut and its working and middle-class families.
The passage of the SEBAC Agreement and its companion 34 bargaining unit agreements secures $1.5 billion in savings in the biennium and $24 billion over the next two decades while protecting vital public services, which all Connecticut residents depend on. We urge the Senate to use the momentum of this positive result to move on to a budget that serves the interest of all of Connecticut’s 3.5 million ordinary residents, rather than consolidating the power and privilege of the wealthiest few and the largest corporations.
In Connecticut, the very wealthy pay a lower percentage of their income in state and local taxes than working and middle-class families do. This is a level of unfairness that our state just can’t afford and we hope the General Assembly passes a fair and moral budget for all Connecticut residents.”

August 1st, 2017

Posted In: Contract Negotiations, SEBAC

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A Message from President Bonina

Thank you to everyone who participated in the vote on the 4Cs and SEBAC Tentative Agreements.
All three tentative agreements – SEBAC, 4Cs full-time CBA, and 4Cs part-time CBA – were overwhelmingly approved by you. Please see the attached for our CBA results.
In addition, all Connecticut SEBAC voting unit members unanimously approved the SEBAC tentative agreement. Please see the SEBAC press release here.
The support of these agreements by our members sends an important message to every Connecticut citizen. Together, we have stated loud and clear that we are willing to do our part to assure Connecticut Community Colleges continue to deliver affordable, high quality education and excellent services into the future. This is what we do, and we do it extremely well!
Your support for these agreements is a reflection of how much 4Cs members care about protecting Connecticut Community Colleges, our students, and our communities.
Thank you for your dedication and sacrifice.
In solidarity,
Bryan R. Bonina, President
Congress of CT Community Colleges

July 18th, 2017

Posted In: 4Cs President, SEBAC, Unions

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Voting on SEBAC and 4Cs Tentative Agreements

As you know, the 4Cs and SEBAC have reached Tentative Agreements on wages, benefits, and working conditions. This email is to inform you that voting on these agreements will take place from July 1 through July 14. All 4Cs members will have a vote on two issues:
  1. 4Cs Contract Vote for issues such as wages and working conditions and language changes
  2. SEBAC Vote for retirement and healthcare
Detailed information on both agreements is available on the 4Cs website. Look under “Issues” for either the SEBAC 2017 or 4Cs Contract Negotiations.
SEBAC leaders are recommending a YES vote on both the SEBAC and individual bargaining unit Tentative Agreements. Further, the 4Cs Delegate Assembly has recommended approval of the 4Cs Tentative Agreement. It is clear that the gains all unions have made in the past are at significant risk. Voting yes on these agreements provide a level of security for members, our families, co-workers and those we serve in a time of great uncertainty.
What do ‘No’ votes mean? If you vote no on the 4Cs Contract, we will likely have to go to arbitration for wages and other economic issues and NO job security. It is likely that the General Assembly would vote down any contract or arbitrated award that includes raises. If you vote no on the SEBAC Agreement, there is a real possibility of losing collective bargaining after the current SEBAC Agreement expires in 2022 and no individual contracts.
We urge all of our members to vote on this important issue. A letter is being mailed to all members with your voting credentials, but you don’t have to wait to vote. To vote now:
  1. Please visit https://eballot4.votenet.com/seiu1973/.
  2. Enter your Last Name
  3. Enter your State Employee ID number (a six digit number found on your pay stub) as your password
  4. Mark your ballot
  5. Confirm your selections and click “submit.”

The vote will be open through July 14. Please remember that only dues-paying members are allowed to vote (which requires that you have signed a membership form). If you are unsure of your status, please contact the 4Cs office at 860.296.5172. If you wish to change your membership status, you can fill out a membership form online here.

Once the membership voting process has completed on July 14, and if all agreements are approved, the SEBAC agreement and all the contracts for the individual bargaining units would be presented to the General Assembly as a single item for approval. The General Assembly can either vote yes on all the agreements or no on all the agreements.

If you have any questions or any problems logging in to vote, please call the office at 860.296.5172.

July 13th, 2017

Posted In: SEBAC

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Important SEBAC Update

Updates on SEBAC 2017 will be posted on the SEBAC 2017 page.

SEBAC Statement

The State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC) voted this afternoon to open formal discussions with the Malloy administration around a framework that will save jobs and save costs to help address the ongoing revenue shortfalls that have caused Connecticut’s budget deficit.

This framework and potential savings are a clear example of why collective bargaining is so imperative for our state.
Without collective bargaining, the billions of dollars in savings from years of agreed upon state worker concessions would not have been realized. This was an important first step as middle-class workers are doing their part to help solve the budget deficit. Now is the time for legislators to ask the same of the state’s most wealthy and billion dollar corporations.
A final SEBAC agreement will rescind the layoff notices that have been issued since April, provide four years of layoff protection and extend state health care and retiree health care benefits for five years.
Within this framework, the administration must complete all unit negotiations before SEBAC can move forward towards a membership vote.
There are critics who have already come out against this framework because they believe that it does not cause enough pain for working families. These critics would undoubtedly stand against any agreement with SEBAC.
Those individuals need to be reminded of the fact that state employees continue to save the state $1 billion annually through concessions.
We have always been willing to do our part.
What happens next?
  • 4Cs leaders will meet to discuss the framework and hold information sessions on the campuses.
  • The 4Cs and our coalition partners, AFT and AFSCME, would need to work out a tentative agreement on our 4Cs Contract with the BOR.
  • The SEBAC agreement and the 4Cs Contract Agreement will be subject to ratification by the members.
  • Once this process is completed, and if all are approved, the SEBAC agreement and all the contracts for the individual bargaining units would be presented to the General Assembly as a single item for approval. The General Assembly can either vote yes on all the agreements or no on all the agreements.

May 24th, 2017

Posted In: SEBAC

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Important Notice from SEBAC: Agreement Reached to Shore Up State Employees’ Retirement Security

State employee union leaders and the governor’s administration have been in discussions over pension funding for nearly a year in an effort to smooth out the pension liability. Yesterday, they reached agreement to restructure state employee pension fund payments.

The agreement does not impact members’ retirement benefits or require increased employee contributions; it does, however, stabilize pensions by ensuring obligations to current and future retirees are fully funded.

Click here for a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the parties.

“This agreement makes sense for the long term retirement security of the public sector workers we represent and the taxpayers of Connecticut,” said Ron McLellan, President of the Connecticut Employees Union Independent (CEUI)/SEIU Local 511, representing 4,000 state employees, and a member of the State Employees Retirement Commission.

Highlights of the MOU include:

  • Reducing the assumed rate of return from 8 percent to 6.9 percent;
  • Transitioning from “level percent of payroll” to “level dollar” amortization over five years;
  • Moving to Entry Age Normal cost methodology;
  • Maintaining 2032 as the payoff date for the unfunded liability accrued through December 31, 1983; and
  • Extending the amortization period for the balance of the unfunded liability in a new 30-year period.

“We have been raising concerns since 2000 that the current level percent of payroll system insisted upon by then-Governor Rowland was not best way to assure stable and reliable pension funding,” said Stephen Greatorex, business manager of the 3,200-member Connecticut State University branch of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). “This agreement at last moves us to a funding system that does its job for the people of the state and the employees who serve them,” added Greatorex, also a member of SERC.

“Real pensions play an important role in Connecticut’s economy by supporting jobs and generating purchasing power in our communities,” said Sal Luciano, executive Director of Council 4 AFSCME, which represents 15,000 state employees. “This agreement is part of a larger policy imperative by our unions to create retirement security for all,” added Luciano, another of the union representatives who sits on SERC.

Because the MOU does not materially change any members’ retirement benefits or contributions, it was approved by the leaders of the 15 unions in the coalition:

  • Council 4 AFSCME;
  • New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199/SEIU;
  • CEUI/SEIU Local 511;
  • AFT Connecticut;
  • CSEA/SEIU Local 2001;
  • Administrative and Residual Union (A&R), AFT;
  • Congress of CT Community Colleges (4Cs), SEIU Local 1973;
  • UConn-AAUP;
  • Judicial Professional Employees (JPE), AFT;
  • CSU-AAUP;
  • Connecticut Judicial Marshals/IPBO Local 731;
  • Connecticut Police and Fire Union, IUPA/IAFF;
  • UConn Health-AAUP
  • Connecticut Association of Prosecutors; &
  • AFSA Local 61.

December 9th, 2016

Posted In: SEBAC

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SEBAC Discussions, 11/23/16

  • The administration requested to meet informally with SEBAC Leaders, and that discussion occurred
  • The parties plan to meet informally again
  • Union leaders will brief their leadership bodies and negotiating committees.
  • Further briefings and information will be available if discussions continue.

November 23rd, 2016

Posted In: SEBAC

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Video from “A Celebration of Unity, Equality, and Democracy”

A diverse group of community, faith, civic and labor organizations on the weekend before Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2016 came together to reclaim the great civil rights leader’s vision. Over 300 people gathered at the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Bloomfield for a forum design to promote greater democracy and end racial and economic inequality.

Attendees pledged to work together and hold elected and civic leaders accountable in five key policy areas. They include:
* good jobs and fair wages;
* universal access to quality public education;
* a vibrant and fairly funded public sector;
* racial, gender, and ethnic justice; and
* real democracy in our state and in our workplaces.

Follow Unity, Equality and Democracy Connecticut on Facebook to learn more and be part of the movement: https://www.facebook.com/UnityEqualit…

Music: Scotticesa Marks, https://www.youtube.com/user/sdmwassup

Videographer: Neal Thomassen, https://www.facebook.com/unionneal

January 27th, 2016

Posted In: Events, SEBAC, Unions

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MLK Day Weekend Event – A Celebration of Unity, Equality, and Democracy

SAVE THE DATE for this SEBAC-organized event! 

In Connecticut, where the middle class is shrinking, where huge corporations make billions in profits while paying workers less than $10 an hour, and Koch Brothers-funded front groups attack workers for having unions, where critical public services are repeatedly cut and the richest among us pay the lowest tax rates, and where unemployment for Black and Latino people is two to three times higher than for white people, there is a path forward.

More than 50 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. articulated a powerful vision for Unity, Equality & Democracy – a vision that challenged us to fight for genuine equality – for racial justice and economic equality – and to strengthen our democracy. We want to ignite this call for justice within the hearts and minds of families and communities across our state. Join us on the Saturday of Martin Luther King weekend, January 16th, at 10am as we celebrate that vision and talk about concrete ways to move it closer to reality. Labor and Civil Rights — one movement for a better tomorrow (location: Bethel AME Church, 1154 Blue Hills Ave., Bloomfield).

 

December 21st, 2015

Posted In: Events, SEBAC

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Notice Of Proposed SEBAC Class Action Settlement

You may have received an email recently from the State of Connecticut that reads as follows:

If you were an employee of the State of Connecticut as of November 17, 2002 and were a member of a bargaining unit designated as an exclusive bargaining representative pursuant to the State Employee Collective Bargaining Act, you could get a payment from a proposed class action settlement. Please read the Notice of Proposed Class Action Settlement by clicking on the link below:

http://www.sgtlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/class-member-mail-noticefrequently-asked-questions.pdf

This e-mail is being sent from an unattended mailbox.  Please do not reply.  You may obtain a copy of the Settlement Agreement and any other documents relating to the proposed settlement by writing or calling Class Counsel at the contact information provided in Response 19 of the attached notice or by visiting the Class Counsel’s website www.sgtlaw.com/class-action-sebac-v-john-g-rowland or your state bargaining unit’s website.

Please also read this notice:

Update on Rowland Lawsuit

If 4Cs members have questions about this settlement, please refer to http://www.sgtlaw.com/class-action-sebac-v-john-g-rowland/ for contact information.

July 20th, 2015

Posted In: SEBAC

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Why Dr. Gray is Wrong

Our last e-news blast focused on the lengthy state budget process. Now, threats to our members’ employment exist, including the closing of the Meriden Center of Middlesex Community College. These threats are being made in response to the Governor’s PROPOSED budget. College Presidents are threatening our members because of instructions received from Dr. Gray.

Publicly, Dr. Gray and other system officials have blamed the cost of employees transferring from ARP to the Hybrid Plan as being a significant cost to the system. However, please read the attached letter from the SEBAC Attorney to the Chairs of the Appropriations Committee, explaining why this is NOT TRUE. The Comptroller reimburses the higher education institutions for the full cost of fringe benefits for employees paid out of the block grant (i.e. the Governor’s proposal).

We can feel neither comforted by, nor confident in, the leadership of President Gray. He remains focussed on his obviously failed Transform 2020 initiative. Further, we have learned that the System Office is withholding $40 million dollars of the Governor’s proposed block grant for the Community Colleges for itself. Dr. Gray is solving his own budget crisis – one that results from a bloated system office bureaucracy and his continued mismanagement – by forcing a budget crisis upon our colleges.

April 2nd, 2015

Posted In: Political Action, SEBAC

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