To:       All Local 749 Members
From:   John Ondusko, President
Re:       SEBAC T.A.
Date:    June 11, 2011

In a matter of days, unionized Connecticut State employees will all be voting to accept or reject the 2011 tentative agreement reached by our representatives at SEBAC and the Malloy administration. For the past two weeks, AFSCME Council 4 Representatives have been all over the State conducting informational meetings endeavoring to answer Local 749 member questions. I have personally attended as many of these meetings as I could. I have witnessed your frustration and anger. If you saw me a couple of months ago on the news at the Norwich town hall meeting with Gov. Malloy, you saw my frustration and anger.

After voicing my position that night, I was hoping that SEBAC would just go tell the Malloy people to "stick it." Weeks went by. Secret closed room negotiations went on. We were all peeved and not understanding why we didn't know anything or why we weren't directly involved and why our suggestions weren't being heard. The last few months have been horrible.

Finally, SEBAC reaches a tentative agreement on 5/13/11. At this point, I cannot imagine any agreement that concedes 2 billion dollars on the backs of state employees that we would ever agree to. Then, Sal Luciano calls all the Presidents of state employee AFSCME Locals to New Britain to disseminate what would be in the agreement. I planned and prepared to lay into Sal that day.

I got there and listened and questioned and listened some more. The agreement showed no signs of hitting our paychecks to the tune of 2 billion dollars.

There were 2 hard zeros… Expected. Longevity would be minimally reduced but not eliminated….Okay. Percentage contributions to ensure sustainability of retiree medical. 2017 would be extended to 2022!... huge. 4 years of job security… huge!... at this point all my plans to lambast Sal fleeted. Current medical insurance plans would move to wellness plans instead of sickness plans. And finally, ages to retire would increase after 2022.

None of this added up to the enormous pain I expected to feel!

But, no matter what, this is a concession package. We would be giving back. Two years ago, we gave back just to buy two years of job security. There was nothing sustainable in the agreement. Members were voting last time with little or no good information. I voted no two years ago.

Well just because it probably should have failed two years ago, is not a good enough reason for me to just say "no" again. This new agreement is with a new administration and has signs of sustainability for many years, not just the four years of job security.

I do reiterate though that it's a concession package. It is very, very hard to be happy and vote to accept.

Local state Republicans and conservatives see this as a "sweetheart deal." It certainly does not feel like that to we state employees. We all know that times are really bad. The near future shows no immediate promise.

If this agreement is not ratified and we end up negotiating our contracts in the current climate and state of fiscal distress, the fight will be uphill and we will be confronted with hurdles and fences with razor ribbon. Can't win for losing! Never quite understood that saying, but certainly seems to apply here.

Voting for Local 749 is Wednesday, June 15th. All the voting site info is on this website, local749.org. It is every member's right to vote their mind. I happen to think that it's a choice between tough and tougher. After due consideration and just so that you know exactly where your President stands, I will be voting "yes" to ratify the 2011 SEBAC Tentative Agreement.