Labor Givebacks = A ​“Tax”

The Democrats and Republicans meeting to address an emergency state budget deficit have promised not to raise ​“taxes” — but if they seek givebacks from unions, they’ll break that promise.

So argued Larry Dorman, spokesman for AFSCME Council 4, which represents state and municipal government workers.

Dorman was referring to talks beginning in Hartford between Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Democratic and Republican state legislative leaders on a plan to close a deficit that has emerged for this fiscal year, estimated at between $118 and $330 million. The governor has declared tax increases off the table. All sides have said that some form of union concessions are on the table.

In an interview last Friday on WNHH radio’s ​“Dateline New Haven,” the legislature’s leading Republican, Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, suggested that much of the deficit could be closed by reconvening a labor-management committee formed to close a far bigger deficit in 2011. At that time the governor and state unions had agreed on $1 billion in labor concessions — about a quarter of which were to be decided by that committee. The committee ended up not doing that job. Fasano called for the committee to meet anew and identify $275 million in labor savings to close the new gap. (Click here to read about and listen to that interview.)

Dorman responded during an appearance this week on ​“Dateline New Haven.”

He argued that unions have kept their bargain: ​“We’ve accepted a lower-tier pension plan. We’ve put forward some savings ideas; some of that, I think, is being acted on. When you look at the hard zeros, permanently lowered salaries, lower pension benfeits, increased contributions, you’re well over a billion dollars in real savings.”

“I respect Sen. Fasano, but anybody who says we need to have a special tax on middle-class workers because they happen to work in the public sector, I think that’s blatantly unfair,” Dorman said.

Asking for more concessions is in effect as seeking to tax state workers — who are the wrong people to tax, Dorman argued.

Quoting a statement from the Better Choices Coalition (which includes AFSCME), Dorman said, ​“Millionaires pay on average in Connecticut about 5 percent of their income in state and local taxes. State employees pay around 10 percent. Generally Working folkls are sacrificing at about 30 times the rate millionaires have sacrificed.” He argued that Connecticut needs to have a ​“real conversation” about how to grow the economy and improve public services. ​“Any respected eocnomist will tell you that cuttting, cutting, cutting is a disaster for the economy. You should be investing in services people need. … We’re not having a discussion about how to make this economy work for everyone.”

Dorman appeared on ​“Dateline New Haven” with Cherlyn Poindexter, president of AFSCME Local 3144, New Haven government’s management and professional union. Poindexter discussed growing up in New Haven’s Brookside development, coming to work for city government, then rising through the ranks of her union. The local recently elected her to a third two-year term as president.

Poindexter and Dorman also discussed the state of union negotiations with the city: The contracts for four unions— representing parks and rec workers; clerical workers; and Board of Ed paraprofessionals; as well as Poindexter’s professional and management members — expired June 30. And talks have not progressed far on new contracts. In addition, new unions representing health department nurses and corporation counsel attorneys are negotiating first contracts.

City talks with Local 3144 have stalled over a petition the city filed with the State Labor Relations Council seeking ​“clarification” of whether or not the union’s 409 positions appropriately belong there. Poindexter, whose union opposes the petition, called it a ​“union-busting” attempt that makes it impossible to negotiate a contract in good faith, since she doesn’t know which members will be in the local. (The city argues that the local shouldn’t have members who report to other members in the workplace; Poindexter disagreed, arguing that the situation has worked fine for years.) Click here to read a story about Poindexter’s criticism of the Harp administration’s actions; AFSCME, which endorsed Harp for election two years ago, did not make an endorsement this year.

Click on or download the sound file above to listen to the entire program with Poindexter and Dorman, which included discussion of the decision not to endorse this time around.