Unions Target Lamont Over Workforce Vacancies, Staffing Issues
Labor unions and their allies called on Gov. Ned Lamont Wednesday to fill vacancies in the state workforce and resist the temptation to use a historic wave of retirements and current staffing shortages to privatize government services.
The state is in the midst of an unusual constriction of its public workforce, driven in large part by a previously-negotiated change in retiree cost-of-living benefits. The change incentives retirement for eligible employees before next July. Thirteen thousand state workers are eligible to leave before that time and their departure will exacerbate existing staffing shortages, which have grown more pronounced throughout the pandemic.
With bargaining units representing much of the state workforce negotiating new contracts with the Lamont administration, the State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition and Recovery For All, a labor-adjacent coalition of organizations, called on the governor to commit to filling all vacancies and expanding services.
During an afternoon press conference centered on residents who rely on state services for things like education and behavioral health care, Puya Gerami, campaign director of Recovery for All, said now was the wrong time to consider privatizing services.
Read more: https://ctnewsjunkie.com/2021/12/01/unions-target-lamont-over-workforce-vacancies-staffing-issues/
