These are complicated times for labor, especially for unions representing state workers. Despite the objections of Republican legislators, they just ratified a concession deal with a governor they helped elect, Democrat Dannel P. Malloy, in a move to save the state an estimated $1.57 billion this year. Lori J. Pelletier, the president of the Connecticut AFL-CIO, talks about the labor landscape in our Sunday Conversation.
Connecticut AFL-CIO
Posted inMoney, Politics
Labor study: Businesses can pay more to preserve CT’s quality of life
Connecticut businesses can afford — and should pay — higher taxes to support investments in education, health care and other priorities to grow the economy and preserve quality of life, a report sponsored by the state’s biggest labor group urged Wednesday.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Brinksmanship at State Capitol over pension deal
Republicans tried Wednesday to scuttle a deal Gov. Dannel P. Malloy struck with state employee unions to avoid spiking pension costs. But the House voted 76 to 72 to ratify the deal, while the Senate followed suit in more dramatic fashion with a tie-breaking vote by Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman.
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Pelletier pressures Jepsen to accept unionization without vote
HAMDEN — Lori J. Pelletier, the president of the Connecticut AFL- CIO, used a Labor Day unity meeting Friday to urge labor leaders to pressure Attorney General George Jepsen to drop his neutrality and embrace an effort by AFT-Connecticut to unionize 196 lawyers in his office.
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A Berkeley professor tries to explain Trump to labor in Hartford
Ian Haney Lopez is a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, a high school and Harvard law classmate of Barack Obama’s and the author of “Dog Whistle Politics,” a historical analysis of the coded racial appeals politicians make to white voters. He talks a lot about Donald J. Trump these days, not always in ways one might expect.
Posted inPolitics
With mixed feelings, labor makes its endorsements in CT
The debate was raucous and raw, and two old friends drew angry opposition. But the Connecticut AFL-CIO eventually agreed Friday on dozens of endorsements of Democrats for the General Assembly and Congress.
Posted inPolitics
Angry, yet pragmatic, CT AFL-CIO assesses role in 2016 elections
The Connecticut AFL-CIO vented Thursday at Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Democratic legislators, but the labor federation will convene again Friday, probably to endorse some of the same Democrats accused of betraying labor on the state budget. The reason is a labor report card: The best-ranked Republicans have lifetime scores of 60 percent, lower than the worst-ranked Democrat.
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Labor and Connecticut Democrats: Can this marriage be saved?
The awkward estrangement of labor and the Connecticut Democratic Party: The head of the AFL-CIO, who organized a labor boycott of the Democrats’ annual fundraising dinner to protest the state budget was rejected this week as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention.
Posted inMoney
Labor, advocacy groups call for tax hikes instead of budget cuts
A top Connecticut labor leader blasted Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposed budget as continuing “to protect the very, very wealthy,” offering a counterpoint to the governor’s call for deep spending cuts and state workforce reductions, and to the broader aversion among many legislators to the idea of raising taxes for a second consecutive year.
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Connecticut economy, the facilitator will see you now
It was inevitable. Suzanne Bates of the Yankee Institute, a conservative think tank critical of public-employee benefits, found herself at a table next to Daniel J. Livingston, the lawyer who negotiates those benefits for state employee unions. The unlikely table mates were emblematic of an experiment staged Friday to find a new approach to economic policy in Connecticut.
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Labor blunter in its criticism of Malloy administration
Connecticut labor leaders began the long Labor Day weekend with sharp criticism of the administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat whose close election and re-election benefitted from labor’s support.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Malloy vetoes qualifications for education commissioner
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy renewed a fight with organized labor Wednesday by vetoing legislation sought by teachers’ unions that would have set a statutory requirement for state education commissioners to have a strong classroom background, something his first education commissioner lacked. The CEA is asking legislators to override the veto.
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DeLauro, Himes heading for tough vote on trade
WASHINGTON – Rep. Rosa DeLauro may be on the brink of losing a key battle in the fight over a new Pacific Rim trade pact, but that’s not likely the end of the lawmaker’s campaign to oppose it. Meanwhile, Rep. Jim Himes is being punished by organized labor for his stance.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Courtney aiming to end Obamacare’s ‘Cadillac tax’
WASHINGTON – Rep. Joe Courtney has plunged into the latest fight over the Affordable Care Act, attacking the so-called “Cadillac tax” that will eventually be implemented on high-cost health care policies.
Posted inEducation, Politics
Malloy offers ‘Connecticut Core’ as Common Core fix
With cover from the state’s two largest teachers’ unions, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Thursday kicked off “Connecticut Core,” the administration’s latest effort to quell the political and policy clamor over how Common Core curriculum standards should be implemented.
