2 Healthcare Items

With many thanks to our friends at the Comptroller's Office, we have some corrections/clarifications to the Health Plan changes.  In an effort to keep healthcare costs down, there are two added components to the State Employee Healthcare Plan: SmartShopper and Site Of Service.  Here is an update for both:

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WORKING PEOPLE'S RALLIES ACROSS THE STATE

A message from CT AFL CIO President Lori Pelletier:

The Supreme Court will soon hear a case that will have a big impact on our voice at work. That’s why working people across the country are making a clear stand to keep the freedoms that we’ve fought for.

On Monday, Feb. 26, there will be a day of action, with local events happening coast to coast, to defend our voice on the job and demand an end to an economy designed to favor the rich and powerful on the backs of working families.

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Legislative Session and Kronos

At the 2/16 meeting of the State Bond Commission, all items before the commission were given a favorable vote, including the vote on funding for Kronos (the State Time Management System).  This isn't the last time you will see this issue.  This is clearly a waste of resources that many legislators are just not aware is occuring.  So we will continue to inform legislators about this foolishness...in the meantime, this system will start to be rolled out at various agencies.

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A Civil Right to Unionize

By Richard Kahlenberg and Moshe Marvit 

The New York Times Opinion
Feb. 29, 2012

 

From the 1940s to the 1970s, organized labor helped build a middle-class democracy in the United States. The postwar period was as successful as it was because of unions, which helped enact progressive social legislation from the Civil Rights Act to Medicare. Since then, union representation of American workers has fallen, in tandem with the percentage of income going to the middle class. Broadly shared prosperity has been replaced by winner-take-all plutocracy. MORE

 

"Effective 7/1/2017" Means What to You?

The state has indicated to SEBAC that the state operates on a cash basis.  As such, they claim that "Effective 7/1/17" means something slightly different than what you might expect.  For instance, regarding pension contributions, the 2017 SEBAC Agreement language specifies: "Effective 7/1/17 contributions in all SERS Tiers shall increase by 1.5% of salary".  Seems straight forward - doesn't it?  We thought so.  But the state, in its infinite wisdom, with its cash basis claim, is interpreting this to mean that pay period June 23 through July 6, 2017 was paid after July 1, and therefore all e

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Legislative Session

The 2018 CT Legislative Session opened last month and it came as no surprise that state employees are again being targeted by the same group of legislators who continue to attack working families.  Bill no. 5068, co-sponsored by House Minority Leader Themis Klarides would:

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Kronos - DAS Installing Employee Tracking System

DAS is instituting a "time management" system in all agencies throughout the Executive Branch.  The system is designed by a company called Kronos and it is an electronic "sign-in/sign-out" system.  The electronic sign-in/sign-out system will be installed at every office building and extend to every field employee whose agency falls under the DAS umbrella.  There are also GPS tracking capabilities for State vehicles and an associated cell phone app. 

This is directly from the homepage of the Kronos website and explains all you need to know about it:

If electronic tracking sounds good to you, then rejoice, it is on the way.  If this sounds like something you abhor and it angers you that you increased your pension contributions so the State can afford a tracking system, then you need to speak up...now.  This is a system that is expected to exceed $25 million dollars (if it works smoothly) and the process to secure the funding is under way. 

The State Bond Commission is meeting Friday 2/16 to approve money for this project.  The project is contained as a line item of a larger IT bond request so it will be difficult to extract from the overall request, but this system is so offensive it deserves our communal efforts.

If you want to oppose installation of the employee tracking system, contact the members of the Bond Commission by phone or email and let them know that this is an unacceptable waste of money during a time of extreme budgetary constraints...this is not a "need" for the State, this is a "want", and we don't want it.

The Bond Commission members are listed below: let each of them know if you believe this system is a misuse of scarce and dwindling resources and would be a prime example of wasteful spending and bad government.

Gov. Malloy
Benjamin Barnes, Secretary OPM
ben.barnes@ct.gov
Denise L. Nappier, State Treasurer state.treasurer@ct.gov
Kevin P. Lembo, State Comptroller kevin.lembo@ct.gov
George C. Jepsen, Attorney General attorney.general@ct.gov
Melody A. Currey, Commissioner DAS melody.currey@ct.gov
Sen. John W. Fonfara john.fonfara@cga.ct.gov
Sen. Scott Frantz Scott.Frantz@cga.ct.gov
Rep. Jason Rojas Jason.Rojas@cga.ct.gov
Rep. Christopher Davis chris.davis@housegop.ct.gov

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