That includes Gov. Number one: What if the state developed a way for citizens to be known across agencies by the end of 2022?. The package was previously approved by the House. Republicans countered Friday that the raises and bonuses far outstrip what households in the private sector are receiving. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you publish it. (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.). Jessica Hill / Associated Press More than 40,000 unionized state employees would receive $3,500 each in special bonuses by mid-July under tentative contract agreements reached this week with. The agreements, which unions ratified earlier this spring, are retroactive to the start of this fiscal year, which began last July 1. 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. CT Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. He has been the state finances reporter at CT Mirror since it launched in 2010. Finance panel: Next CT tax fairness study must focus on inequality, CT budget battle heats up as Lamont offers rosy financial picture, State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. What will our elected officials be working on to improve policy outcomes for Connecticut residents? 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. Its members include scientists, engineers and information technology professionals. But overall, as agency heads told Geballe as he made the rounds in January and February, the states hiring process still is cumbersome, with rarely updated job classifications that are numerous, narrowly drawn and can require their own tests. One lump sum payment retroactive to 2021 with full-time employees receiving $2,500 and part-time employees receiving a prorated amount $1,000 lump sum payment effective fiscal 2023 and prorated for part-time employees But Gov. The House, where Democrats also hold a majority, approved the package 96-52 on Thursday. 0:04. "I'm very concerned this is unsustainable, opponent Kevin Maloney told lawmakers at a public hearing Monday. How will state and local budgets be affected by fewer federal resources? 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. Though the list of reforms may be exhausting to review, it is far from exhaustive! Democratic governors in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia are temporarily suspending raises for state employees or freezing pay until they can better understand the fiscal impact of the pandemic, but, thus far, Connecticut state employees are still scheduled to receive a second pay increase, projected to cost taxpayers $353 million. Private-sector employees can only dream of having that, said Sen. Henri Martin, R-Bristol. Florida lawmakers start hammering out budget details State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition. listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information. The $2,000 payment will only be available to employees who were hired or appointed before June 30, 2018. Connecticut Minimum Wage Set to Increase to $15 The 2022 State Holiday and Check Dates calendar for State Employees. This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Publics Members The State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition represents 35 different bargaining units and more than 40,000 state employees. building a betterand more civilConnecticut to live, work, and play. 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. I think were at a time where change is coming, whether people like it or not. Connecticut State Employees Retirement System Tier I Benefit Calculation The non-unionized managers will receive a one-time bonus of $2,000 and 7.5% in wage increases, including a 3.5% cost-of-living increase and up to 4% annual increments. Gov. Inevitably, it will be highly unpopular, so the announcement will be buried as deeply as possible and spun like a top by Lamonts spokespeople. Let us be clear. November 3, 2021 @ The managers who will receive the raises include division heads at state agencies, as well as commissioners and deputy commissioners. The minimum wage in Connecticut is scheduled to increase to $15 per hour on June 1, 2023. . The budget is expected to be a record high for the 2023-2024 fiscal year, which will start July 1. Each of the 3.6 million residents in Connecticut rely on the critical public services state workers provide whether you are standing in line at the DMV, attending a technical school, community college or state university, getting treatment at UConn Health, driving on our roads and bridges, enjoying a state park or beach, or any of the other ubiquitous public services you will be uplifted by these fair and honorable contracts, the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition wrote in a statement after the Senate vote. 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. Fazio said that it reflects the pull unions have on state government and that taxpayers will end up footing the bill. 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%. state of ct employee step increase 2022 - greeninginc.com Efficiency is easier in concept than in actual practice. But most House Republicans who spoke in Thursdays debate predicted taxpayers wouldnt be as happy as state employee unions are. But more than that, this is a necessary contract so that we can hold on to the best and brightest.. And Lamont reported this week that the current fiscal years budget is projected to close on June 30 with an unprecedented $3.95 billion surplus, equal to nearly 20% of entire General Fund. And Lamont reported this week that the current fiscal years budget is projected to close on June 30 with an unprecedented $3.95 billion surplus, equal to nearly 20% of entire General Fund. If youre going to get a bonus, youve got to stick around with us for a while, said Rep. Jay Case, R-Winsted. Dannel P. Malloy takes effect. Government bureaucracies are notoriously resistant to change, layered with the accretion of rules, processes, union contracts, all contributing to a workplace culture. It will slow cost-of-living adjustments for all new retirees and raise health costs for a few, primarily high earners. 1 Week Subscription - $2.99 / 7 Days. The Democratic-controlled Senate voted 22-13 along party lines to approve the contracts, which cover about 46,000 workers the bulk of the state's workforce. Ellettsville considering $10,000 raise for every full-time employee Photos: Iconic Landmarks To Visit Across CT. SEBAC employees who are employed before March . The only Tier II members who are required to make retirement contributions are: Individuals serving in hazardous duty positions; and Individuals who elected to pay an additional contribution to maintain the current normal retirement age. Attracting people to fill managerial roles will become even more important as the state prepares for a coming wave of employees retiring next year. 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. Ned Lamont and president of state's network of community colleges square off in showdown over state funding. 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. Ned Lamont is negotiating a new wage contract with the State Employees Bargaining Alliance Coalition. 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. Each year includes a 2.5% general wage increase, as well as a step hike for all but the most senior workers. The one thing we know about Ned Lamont or any Democrat, for that matter is that he will not fight the unions. An arbitrator had already awarded some unions a 3% general wage hike for 2021-22 before Lamont and labor negotiators settled on a smaller cost-of-living bump and bonuses. Why? The agreement would cost the state nearly $1.9 billion over four fiscal years, according to nonpartisan fiscal analysts. Its, Well, thats the way weve always done it. . A wave of state employee retirements is expected in the coming months, resulting in an "unprecedented" loss of knowledge and skills, some officials say. Negotiators will meet again to determine raises after the time period. Based on the statutes governing Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) for CTRB members, the Connecticut Teachers' Retirement Board will be granting COLA as follows. For some of Connecticuts highest paid pensioners like Jack Blechner, a former UConn Health Center physician who received $342,325.14 in 2020, the COLA amounts to an additional $12,323.70 per year. Thirty percent intend to leave the state upon retirement. Were losing some of our best and brightest as they seek other parts of the country where its easier to make a living. Geballe is no stranger to bureaucracies and the opportunities, challenges and necessities of wrenching change: He spent 11 years at IBM, which employs 350,000 people worldwide and preaches that the world is in the midst of a fourth industrial revolution, a convergence of new technologies powered by cloud computing. This final increase may pose concerns for small businesses and non-profit organizations operating in the state. The raises do not apply to employees in the legislative and judicial branches or higher education. The agreement would cost the state nearly $1.9 billion over four fiscal years, according to nonpartisan fiscal analysts. There is ample evidence that this is a fair contract, a reasonable contract, an affordable contract, she said of Connecticuts wage hikes. Greenwich resident Red Jahncke is president of The Townsend Group International, a business consultancy in Connecticut, and a freelance columnist published in national and Connecticut newspapers. But its unclear if the bonuses will stop many workers, since they can still collect the $2,500 bonus even if they retire anyway. At Yankee Institute, we know Connecticut is a state with boundless opportunity, and we intend to help make our state more than a place where people are just able to make ends meet! For retirements prior to June 30, 2022, these cumulative raises will be paid each year on either January 1st or July 1st depending on your date of retirement (DOR). 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. 2023 January COLA Increase Approved - portal.ct.gov Lamont could rehire retired workers as independent contractors, but then he would be paying those fees as well as funding retirement benefits. If you value the story you just read please consider making a donation. Thermo Fisher Scientific bought the company the same year. Michelle Lee. Some of the features on CT.gov will not function properly with out javascript enabled. The managers who will receive the raises include division heads at state agencies, as well as commissioners and. In a bill drafted . Glidden is now engaged with the administration on the possibility of some state government professionals teleworking. We have three years to plan for that, Geballe said. The announcement Thursday from the governors office of the 7.5% raises comes as union workers ramp up their fight for wage increases in their new contracts, which they are currently negotiating with the state. Paper versus electronic records is just one of so many, Glidden said. Were working really hard to digitize everything we do.. Concerns over energy prices, inflation, and general cost of living continue to dominate the headlines and the threat of a recession hovers over economic forecasts. 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. 3.2K views, 182 likes, 87 loves, 302 comments, 161 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from The Victory Channel: The Victory Channel is LIVE with Victory News! State retirees receive minimum 2 percent COLAs per year regardless of the inflation rate and a maximum of 6 percent or 7.5 percent, depending on their retirement tier. 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. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts. We had more people employed in the private sector in 2007 than we do today. It seems that JavaScript is not working in your browser. Gov. 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. Register to attend in-person | Register to attend virtually. More than 30 state employee bargaining units have ratified contracts that would provide more than 40,000 workers with $3,500 in bonuses by July, along with three years of raises, the State. 2:19 pm. Watching is one of those who spoke against it, Sen. Craig Miner. 2023 The Conneticut News Project. Veterans Health Care and Benefits Become Flash Points in Debate over Best Sales Performance Management Software Company Ned Lamont speaks at a news conference at Connecticuts Beardsley Zoo, in Bridgeport, Conn. March 29, 2021. 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. This is a carousel. Going forward, these employees will be entitled to receive wage and benefit provisions that their union counterparts will receive, per language the governors office included in the 837-page budget implementer bill passed this legislative session, McCaw said. functions now spread across agencies, just as Raymond recently struck a five-year deal with Microsoft that replaces a dozen separate agency agreements. Likely, the governors spinmeisters will follow the lead of union leaders in referring to all state employees as frontline workers, although many agencies were closed to the public during most of the pandemic. DAS is now working to centralize and streamline H.R. House Approves $1.9B State Employee Raises, Bonuses Deal On top of that, most workers would "step" into a higher pay grade, adding an extra 2% to most raises. 'Change is coming' for Connecticut state employees Sal Luciano, a former social worker who is the president of the Connecticut AFL-CIO, said many state agencies are understaffed. The changes will only affect those who retire after July of 2022, but according to the OLR report, historically such changes have resulted in a larger number of employees retiring before the cut-off date. 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. This proposed contract is a raw deal for the working people of this state, Sen. Ryan Fazio (R-Greenwich) said. So, it is a safe bet that Lamont will sign a juicy new wage contract with SEBAC. Senate Joins House And Votes To Give Raises, Bonuses To State Employees Your email address will not be published. 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 . October 25, 2021 @ In 2015, Connecticut paid $1.7 billion to 49,111 retirees, according to the Comptroller's Open Pension website. That sum hasnt changed much in two decades. Lamont called DAS one of the jobs where we wanted to think a little more out of the box., Like Lamont, Geballe is a graduate of the School of Management at Yale. Ned Lamont previously touted the agreement as a way to retain state employees amid a wave of potential retirements. Its nothing more than a handout.. They also cover the next two fiscal years and potentially 2024-25 as well. Ned Lamont's administration and already ratified by the 35 . 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. The raises provided to state managers mirror what the state provided to union workers over the past four years under the 2017 agreement with the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition. 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%. Lawmaker Proposes Pay Raises | CT News Junkie 90% of our revenue is contributed. But that surge followed a nearly decade-long stretch in which state tax receipts from the same source badly underperformed. Employees who retire after that date will get less lucrative retirement benefits. That's an incentive to keep people working after that retirement date.". After leaving IBM, he became chief executive officer of Core Informatics, a software startup that Hartford Business Journal included in its 2017 list of best places to work in Connecticut. in its annual Fiscal Accountability Report. 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). 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. Sen. Cathy Osten defending the SEBAC deal. It is cloud-based, lessening the states reliance on servers, improving security and taking a step toward the ultimate goal of easing the sharing of data and documents among agencies. State employee unions offered concessions in 2009, 2011 and 2017. The deal is now final since the state Senate and House approved it. The agreements, which unions ratified earlier this spring, are retroactive to the start of this fiscal year, which began last July 1. Topics you care about, straight to your inbox, More than 46,000 Connecticut state employees could soon get a significant raise -- and bonuses thanks to a new union. But we have a bonus that starts after July 1. It could be because it is not supported, or that JavaScript is intentionally disabled. That helps focus peoples minds and increase their willingness to change and to take risks. CONNECTICUT State officials announced the tentative state employee union bargaining agreement, which calls for multiple years of raises and bonus payments. Nothing stands in the way of the ever-increasing generosity of state employee compensation. As a But Gov. How will schools be implementing to curriculum requirements?