While past governors legislatures and governors get much of the blame for Connecticut’s massive pension debt, a new analysis says politically appointed oversight boards should share the heat both here and in other states.
Labor
Posted inPolitics
Off the main stage, Griebel pitches his deficit solution
Independent gubernatorial candidate Oz Griebel, who has struggled to attract financial and political support, told reporters Thursday that he would empty the Rainy Day Fund and suspend contributions to the state’s underfunded pension system to help close a huge, post-election state budget deficit.
Posted inMoney
Survey: CT companies lukewarm about state’s economic future
While most Connecticut businesses are optimistic the nation’s economy will grow over the next year, a new survey has found many have broad anxiety about the state’s economic future.
Posted inPolitics
Democrats, labor use Trump and Stefanowski as motivation
Democrats running for key state and federal offices fired up Connecticut’s largest labor coalition Friday, painting President Donald Trump and GOP gubernatorial nominee Bob Stefanowski as major threats to the left’s core values.
Posted inPolitics
With labor, Lamont carefully treads a path blazed by Malloy
Ned Lamont has spent months trying to distance himself from the unpopular Democratic governor he hopes to succeed, but when it comes to the public-sector unions that bedeviled his predecessor, Lamont faces the same dilemma: How to keep labor’s support in difficult fiscal times?
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Bridgeport educator: What gives me hope after a terrible year for teachers
After the disappointing Janus Supreme Court decision that eliminated the “fair share” laws that fund teachers unions like mine, thousands of educators from across the country marched through the streets of Pittsburgh to show support for their unions. After a year of blows to the teaching profession — a U.S. Department of Education that focuses less on protecting students and more on its own destruction, federal and state budget cuts, and the heavy, ever-looming threat of violence in the classroom — my heart warmed when I saw my colleagues resisting after yet another attempt to undermine our collective bargaining rights and disregard our voices. Teachers are willing to speak up on behalf unions. But unions will in turn have to show they understand teachers’ most pressing concerns and are ready to speak up for them.
Posted inMoney
CT loses 1,200 jobs in July; unemployment remains at 4.4 percent
Connecticut lost 1,200 jobs in July but its unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.4 percent, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
Posted inPolitics
Despite no leverage, candidates promise labor concessions
While all of Connecticut’s gubernatorial candidates say they want more concessions from unionized state employees, the reality is the next governor will have little leverage to force negotiations until his third year in office. So, how do you cut a state budget dominated by personnel expenses if you can’t eliminate personnel?
Posted inJustice
State high court: No immunity for religious institutions from employee discrimination suits
Connecticut’s high court has unanimously decided that private religious institutions in the state are not immune from lawsuits for discrimination and, like other employers, they must litigate those claims before the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Change is coming for nonprofit human service providers, but will it make or break them?
It is a time of reckoning for Connecticut’s private, nonprofit social services. After two decades of flat or reduced funding from its chief client — state government — community-based agencies are struggling to retain both their programs and the low-paid staff who deliver care for thousands of poor, disabled and mentally-ill adults and children.
Posted inPolitics
Republican candidates take swing at labor
A proposal Thursday by Republican gubernatorial candidate David Stemerman to cut the ranks of state employees, privatize state services and force employees and retirees to accept smaller pensions is the latest sign of the Connecticut Republican Party’s comfort in engaging public-sector unions in open warfare.
Posted inPolitics
Boughton sketches path to CT income tax repeal
Republican gubernatorial contender Mark Boughton upped the ante Monday in his plan to phase out the state income tax, pledging more than $380 million in taxpayer relief in his first two-year budget.
Posted inJustice, Money, Politics
DeLauro bid to help immigrant children gets bipartisan support
WASHINGTON – With bipartisan support, a key House panel adopted two measures sponsored by Rep. Rosa DeLauro aimed at pressing the Trump administration to improve its reunification of immigrant families separated at the U.S. border and boost funding for a mental health program that would help the children recover from the separations.
Posted inPolitics
AFL-CIO endorses Eva Bermudez Zimmerman, Jahana Hayes
The state AFL-CIO rejected convention-endorsed Democrats in two high-profile primaries Friday by backing political newcomers with strong union ties: Eva Bermudez Zimmerman for lieutenant governor and Jahana Hayes for the open 5th Congressional District seat.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Blaming the unions is a convenient distraction. Don’t fall for it.
I am a proud union member from a union family, and a lifetime member of the United Auto Workers union. In the mid- to late 80s I remember walking picket lines with my father and the union workers at Colt Firearms as they endured one of the longest strikes in Connecticut history. Today we are still reaping the benefits of the sacrifices that were made by so many union members willing to stand together united for a just cause.