| Council 15 ALERT 2011-1 December 17, 2010
GENERAL ASSEMBLY WILL CONVENE ON JANUARY 5, 2011
Attention Council 15 Executive Board and Local Presidents
The 2011 Session of the Connecticut General Assembly will convene on Wednesday January 5, 2011, and will adjourn on Wednesday June 8, 2011.
The twenty-two week Session will present the legislature with the task of formulating a bi-annual budget that will have to address a two year deficit estimated by various sources at over six billion dollars on a total annual budget of approximately nineteen billion dollars. This financial report is definitely a cause of concern to the legislators, municipalities that rely on state subsidies for education, public safety, infrastructure, social services, and ongoing quality of life improvements to the communities. This condition will naturally continue to make negotiating public sector labor agreements difficult for some time to come, and cause labor to once again be on defense when proposals surface that would affect us negatively.
At Council 15, we will go to the legislature with an agenda that hopes to address ongoing concerns that may possibly be resolved through the legislative process. I will be working with Council 15 staff attorneys to address some of those concerns that have been raised during the past year.
During the year and after the annual legislative sessions I suggest that concerns you or your membership may have and that could be addressed through legislation be brought to the attention my attention or to your Council 15 attorney. At this time, the clock is running out on the opportunity to submit concepts to the committees that have cognizance over labor and public safety. However, if you have any proposals, contact me as soon as possible, and we will attempt to introduce the concept to the committee chairs.
Once again, in view of the current economic conditions, Council 15 will be working in concert with our labor sisters and brothers during the Session to protect current legislation that affords us the right to collectively bargain, and the right to a fair hearing before a panel of arbitrators when we are unable to resolve contact disputes.
Thomas R Carozza Sr
Director of Legislative Affairs
CT Council of Police Unions
AFSCME Council 15 AFLCIO
203.250.2220 office
203.250.2233 FAX
203.250.6468 cell
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