Connecticut State Employee Unions Refuse to Delay Raises as 21.5% Unemployed

The chief negotiator for the coalition of unions representing Connecticut state employees sharply rejected a call from Republicans to delay raises for union workers even as the state has the second highest percentage of workforce unemployed in the nation.

Daniel Livingston wrote to State Minority Leader Len Fasano (R), as CT Mirror reported Thursday:

We are disappointed to see that even in the midst of a historic national crisis instead of coming together in support of all working families – and especially the frontline workers public and private, profit and non-profit who are keeping us all safe — your caucus resorts to the cynical, manipulative and divisive behavior for which it has become famous. Unlike the tiny comfortable minority of millionaires and billionaires your caucus truly represents, state workers together with the non-profits actually help provide the critical safety net upon which the most vulnerable in our state depend.

“Instead, try thanking all the front-line workers, state and private, who are risking their lives for all of us, and asking your millionaire and billionaire friends to pay their fair share of taxes,”  Livingston added.

The union negotiator responded to Fasano’s letter urging Gov. Ned Lamont (D) and unionized state workers to delay their upcoming scheduled raises during the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s the same old talking point because they can’t actually articulate any reason why state employees aren’t sacrificing like the rest of us,” Connecticut Republican Chairman J.R. Romano told Breitbart News in an interview. “We’re not even talking about cancelling the raise — we’re talking about delaying it. Much like other states did.”

Fasano recommended in his letter that savings from a delay in the 3.5 percent general wage increase plus an annual step increase of 2 percent scheduled for July 1 could be redirected to nonprofits and social service providers.

“At a time when Connecticut residents, nonprofits and social service providers are struggling significantly, the state should consider delaying these raises and instead directing those funds to support the state’s nonprofit providers who make up our safety net services that help the most vulnerable populations,” Fasano wrote.

The tension over the issue of the state workers’ raises has deepened as a newly released report from the Tax Foundation noted 21.5 percent of Connecticut’s workforce has now filed for unemployment.

Only Michigan topped Connecticut with 21.8 percent of its workforce now filed for unemployment benefits.

“More than 20 percent of the civilian labor force has applied for or is receiving benefits in three states: Michigan (21.8 percent), Connecticut (21.5 percent), and Vermont (20.9 percent),” the Tax Foundation reported. “Another 13 states have rates of 15 percent or higher.”

According to the report, unemployment claims in Connecticut for the week ending April 18 numbered 102,757 – a figure that represents nearly a 202 percent increase in unemployment claims from the previous week.

By comparison, the Tax Foundation observed that, during the Great Recession, Connecticut showed a high during one week of 13,023 unemployment claims.

Marc E. Fitch of the Yankee Institute for Public Policy, which promotes free-market principles in Connecticut, wrote Monday about the effect of Lamont’s order closing down businesses in a state that was not financially prepared:

Connecticut has seen more than 400,000 unemployment benefit claims since Gov. Ned Lamont issued an executive order closing all nonessential businesses to the public in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

…

Connecticut’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, however, only had half the funding needed to weather a recession when the pandemic hit. Depending on the length of the shutdown and economic recession, the fund may require help.

Connecticut currently has roughly $2.5 billion in its reserve fund and Lamont is asking the federal government for further assistance for unemployment claims.

Appearing Friday on CNN’s AC360, Lamont said there was “frustration from the governors that, in yet another supplemental, there was maybe money for airlines, but no money for frontline workers, state employees, state and local government.”

“And our revenues have just been devastated – income tax, as well as sales tax,” he added. “So, that point was made clear that you’ve got to remember state government, or else we’ll never get this economy back on track.”

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), however, said Wednesday he is only willing to help states with coronavirus-related issues, but not with “revenue replacement for state governments” or “solving their pension problems for them.”

On Monday, President Donald Trump also questioned why taxpayers should bail out “Democrat run and managed” states:

Why should the people and taxpayers of America be bailing out poorly run states (like Illinois, as example) and cities, in all cases Democrat run and managed, when most of the other states are not looking for bailout help? I am open to discussing anything, but just asking?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 27, 2020

GOP Chairman Romano said Livingston and state union leaders refusing to be flexible during a time when many in the private sector are out of work are engaging in “political cheap shots.”

“What you cannot deny is that the state of Connecticut before this was in a fiscal crisis,” he continued. “And now that our tax revenues will certainly be down, it’s only going to get worse. And the fact that he stands there and thumps his chest as to say that the hard-working people in this state – the single moms who are dental hygienists, or who are working as a car salesperson, bartender, or waitress – they’re the ones paying for his arrogance.”

The Connecticut state pay raises are scheduled to go into effect even as other Democrat-led states have halted pay boosts for their state employees and frozen hiring in light of the sudden and devastating impact on private sector employment due to the infection caused by the coronavirus that originated in China.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) used his emergency powers to freeze a two percent pay increase for state workers last week, reported the Post-Journal, allowing a savings of nearly $360 million for the next fiscal year.

A spokesman for the state Division of Budget told New York Newsday the state is delaying raises of state employees by at least 90 days.

In Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Wolf (D) froze pay for 9,000 state workers because of the crisis, reported Phillyvoice.com.

“Wolf said paychecks for these employees are to be suspended indefinitely and at least until April 30,” the report noted. “The pay freeze comes from statewide shutdowns of government offices due to the coronavirus.”

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) enacted a hiring freeze of state workers and directed agencies to cut budgets due to the pandemic.

According to the Associated Press, Clark Mercer, Northam chief of staff, informed agency directors the state will be undergoing a recession and revenues will be worse than “even our most pessimistic forecast” from last year.

Along with the costs of medical supplies and crisis efforts due to the coronavirus, Mercer said, “All of this will cost the commonwealth extraordinary sums.”

“The governor made decisions to shut down people’s livelihoods,” Romano said. “That Livingston has the audacity to thump his chest with some political talking point is disgusting considering what we’re all suffering through.”