One day after union talks broke down, the Rell administration and state employee unions are still at odds over the failure to approve an early retirement program for state employees.
The two sides cannot even agree on what happened at the meeting. The Rell administration blames the unions, while the unions blame Rell.
Rell says flatly that the unions summarily rejected the ERIP, but the unions say it’s more complicated than that.
‘The talks broke down last night because the administration’s representatives left the room,” said Matt O’Connor, a spokesman for the State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition, known as SEBAC. “I was there. I was in the room while both sides talked. I was in the room while the union leaders caucused.”
The union leaders had met for about 45 minutes in a pre-meeting caucus before budget director Robert Genuario, chief negotiator Saranne Murray of the Shipman and Goodwin law firm, and others arrived at the Council 4/AFSCME union hall in New Britain. O’Connor estimated that there were 20 representatives of the Rell administration and 30 union representatives in the room.
Republicans say that an estimated 8,000 state employees would be eligible for the ERIP, and an estimated 2,000 would take the retirement package. If 1,000 positions are re-filled, the state workforce would then drop by 1,000 positions at an estimated savings of $65 million per year.
Rell’s supporters said the union leaders were adamant that they didn’t want to talk about anything but the ERIP.
“Never said that,” O’Connor said. “What we did say was we should be talking about the ERIP. … We did say we wanted to talk about our 18-point plan – our cost-savings proposal. There are immediate cost savings. There are cost savings that are much more long-term in nature.”
Regarding the union’s contention that the Rell administration “stormed out” of the meeting, Rell’s supporters say that Genuario, who is known for being calm, cool and collected, remained that way Monday night. Some insiders say it was Murray who made the first move to leave the meeting after saying “we’ll take that as a no” on the ERIP.
At the meeting, the unions were asking for numbers to show exactly what would happen to state services if the ERIP is approved and if, for example, 1,000 state employees left their jobs. In addition, they wanted to know what would happen to the unfunded liability in the state pension fund.
“That shouldn’t be that tough to produce,” O’Connor told Capitol Watch. “It shouldn’t have been that tough to show up with some numbers yesterday. … This is a serious proposal. You come with your arguments. … We did ask some actuaries to give us some estimates” for the union.
“We didn’t see the details of the plan until last night,” O’Connor said. “Maybe this should have been presented much sooner. Maybe back in January when we first met – when we presented the 18-point plan.”
Since then, the Rell administration has sought various concessions, such as additional furlough days and additional wage freezes. Those have been rejected, and the legislature has been struggling to balance the budget for the next fiscal year before the legislative session ends at midnight on May 5.
House Republican leader Larry Cafero of Norwalk says that union leaders have been under pressure from members who want to take the early retirement incentive.
After the dust-up on Wednesday night, no further talks have been scheduled.
“We can all agree there was no agreement,” O’Connor said.