Civil Service Reform

Tuesday, voters across Connecticut spoke, loud and clear. They are demanding better jobs; an affordable, sustainable state government; and politicians of both parties who are willing to work together to fund our state’s priorities without constant tax increases. With your help, Yankee stands ready to help achieve these goals – in 2017 and beyond. We have heard our state’s residents, and we have developed policy proposals that can drive real reform.

In tear-filled testimony, Holly Tucker of New Haven recounted how she was arrested following a traffic infraction and had her bail set at $25,000. She was forced to spend the night in jail away from her daughter before getting out on a written promise to appear the following day. Tucker was just one of many who crowded into the public hearing before the Sentencing Commission, which was tasked by Gov. Dannel Malloy to explore reforms to Connecticut’s bail system.

Part of the orientation is a 30-minute “union-only” session of the training, during which members SEIU 1199 organizers discuss workers' rights and the benefits of joining a union. The union then tries to get PCAs to sign union cards to join the SEIU 1199 and start paying dues. Pauline refused to sign the card and that was when the trouble started.

Twenty-five years ago Gov. Lowell Weicker vetoed a state budget. In his veto message, he got one thing right. “We will not set employment levels and then drum up programs to make work,” he said. To this day, Connecticut doesn’t set priorities. We start with state employees and end with ...

Assistant attorneys general who plan to vote "no" in an upcoming union vote are making their case to their colleagues, arguing that a union could interfere with the existing relationship they have with their boss, Attorney General George Jepsen. A letter circulating among the AAGs and published on the website, AAG Independence, criticized Governor Malloy for rescinding raises for managerial employees in February of 2016. But the unnamed authors argue that if the department had been obligated by union contract to give those raises, attorney would have lost their jobs.

The State Labor Relations Board scheduled a mail-in vote for October to determine whether assistant attorney's general will form a union. The SLRB also determined that class 4 assistant attorneys general are excluded from unionization because they act as department heads and are therefore classified as management.