Budget Plan Adopted - Layoff Notices Anticipated

The General Assembly adopted a plan on March 29th to close this year's budget deficit of $220 million dollars. The agreement would cut $83 million from more than 300 budget line-items.  Meanwhile, the 2016-2017 budget is anticpated to have a $900 million deficit.  As a result, cuts are anticipated.  While some cuts will hit the Legislative and Judicial branches, many of these cuts will come from agencies within the Executive branch. It appears likely that some agencies will resort to layoffs to meet the budget rescissions.

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The Mess In The Press

Despite what has been floated in the press, the SEBAC unions are willing to meet with the Governor.  Our goal is to find out what he is looking for from union members.  To this day neither the Governor, nor the Democrats, nor the Republicans have spoken to SEBAC to explain what they may seek from employees.  There have been many ideas floated in press releases, but nothing actually offered or discussed.  We have not refused to meet with the Governor or any of the State’s representatives.

We have been willing to meet with the Governor and found it remarkable that no one had approached us until March 16th.  We certainly want to avoid layoffs.  Our priorities are to protect your job and your benefits.  We will not forget that State employees have made concessions in the past and we need to find the right outcome for 2016.

Although we have agreed to meet with the Governor, a meeting date has not yet been set.  Do not buy into the premise that the Unions are snubbing any of the leadership of this State.  We have been willing to listen, but to date, they preferred to play politics in the press rather than actually engage us.  It is our hope that if there is to be any sustainable solution, it would be obtained through discussions rather than vitriolic press releases and grandstanding.

We will keep you apprised as circumstances evolve but we will avoid responding to the daily barrage of misleading press releases.

Welcome to the Byron Education Association Site

As our union grows, we want to stay as organized and strong as possible! Taking advantage of the free Byron Education Association website through AFT is a great way for us to stay organized and keep our members informed.

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Monroe County Federation of Teachers Urges Parents to Be Informed on Testing

The Monroe County Federation of Teachers has released a statement urging parents to be informed about this year's testing. You may read the entire statement here. The resolution can be found here.

State Requests Meeting with SEBAC

We knew it was inevitable and now it has happened: OPM sent a letter March 16th requesting a meeting with SEBAC leaders meet to discuss pension and healthcare concessions.

SEBAC met March 17th  to discuss and respond to the request. 

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Michigan House Appropriations Committee Approval

The Michigan House Appropriations Committees approved $48.7 million supplemental aid package for Detroit Public Schools.

This is a good first step for the future of the Detroit Public Schools.  With this supplelmental aid package parents can continue to send their children to school, high school seniors will be able to graduate and school staff can get back to the focus of educating and servicing the children and get paid for the remainder of the school year.  

Although this is a positive step there is still work to be done to encourage our state legislators to fully pay the debt and return Detroit Public Schools to local control.

Plenty of Rumors and Speculation

There has been an onslaught of rumors, speculation, and misinformation regarding State Employees, lately so we will try to address these issues as best as we can.

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Interested in Running For General Assembly?

The CT Working Families Party is seeking to train and support anyone interested in running for elected office in their district.  The following message was received from the CT Working Families Party:

This year, we're working hard to find, recruit, and train candidates for local and state office, and we think that person might just be you!

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Governor Touting Layoffs and Deeper Cuts

Governor Malloy is making it clear that layoffs are pending and he is setting the narrative that the Unions don't want to help solve the budget issues.  This is comical as State employees have given hundreds of millions over the past 6 years.  We would like to think that the governor respects the sacrifices our members have already made in the agreement he negotiated in 2011 and that cuts and layoffs will only damage Connecticut’s economy.   

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