State union leaders announced Thursday that state employees overwhelmingly voted to ratify a concessions agreement that will avoid thousands of layoffs and save the state $1.6 billion over two years.
The deal calls for wage freezes and changes to pensions and health benefits for the 45,000 state employees represented by unions. In return, Gov. Dannel Malloy promised there would be no layoffs for at least the next four years. He will also rescind layoff notices to about 3,000 union workers.
"We have achieved something the skeptics said was unachievable: we've made the relationship between the state and its workforce sustainable," Malloy said after the announcement.
After union members rejected an earlier concessions agreement in June, Malloy began laying of some 3000 state employees and announced drastic cuts to programs and services.
Leaders for the State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition, a group that oversees the 15 unions that represent state employees, changed its by-laws after the June vote to allow for a simple majority of members needed to pass labor agreements. SEBAC then renegotiated some parts of the concessions deal with the Malloy administration to clarify some sticking points.
"As important as it is that we've closed the current budget deficit in a responsible way - by avoiding thousands of layoffs and hundreds of millions of dollars in painful spending cuts - the real value of this agreement lies in the $21.5 billion it will save taxpayers over the next 20 years in the form of lower healthcare and retirement costs for state employees," Malloy said.
The Governor said the state is not out of the woods on the budget issue, and that he is "committed to continuing to reduce the size, scope and cost of state government."
