State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Employee Unions Endorse Concession Deal by Huge Margin, 83 to 17 Percent

Hartford Courant: State employee unions have overwhelmingly approved a $1.5 billion package of concessions over two years, providing major savings to help close the state budget gap and setting the stage for a tight vote by the legislature.

Thousands of state employees who are part of the State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition, known as SEBAC, embraced the deal by an 83-to-17 percent margin.

Smiling union members gathered for a press conference Tuesday morning at the Connecticut State Employees Association, not far from the state Capitol. Speaker after speaker said the state employees had done their part, and now it was time for millionaires, billionaires, and corporations to pay more in taxes to close a deficit projected of $5 billion over two years.

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