A state employee union official Friday explained some of the reasons for this week's rejection of the proposed concessions agreement with the Malloy administration by members of his bargaining unit, Local 749 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Voting by the 34 employee bargaining units will not be completed until a week from now - but, for the moment, Local 749 Secretary Ian Shackleton said in a Friday interview that his members had three main reasons for turning down the agreement:
--anger over being asked for more concessions only two years after voting to give such concessions, including unpaid furlough days, to the Rell administration in 2009.
--worries that changes in health care coverage would affect the availability of care and intrude on their personal privacy.
--and resistance to a three-year increase in the retirement age, particularly by employees who are within a few years of retirement and would have to change plans and arrangements they've made.
Voting by the 45,000 unionized state employees began last week and will continue until next Friday. As it progresses, many in politics have wondered aloud what would make state employees vote against a deal that much of the general public believes is generous, at least in comparison with what's been happening in other financially strapped states around the country. The alternative, if the agreement is rejected, would be as many as 7,500 layoffs, Gov. Dannel Malloy has said.
Shackleton's comments provide at least some insight into the union members' thinking; he said he had communicated with about 200 of his local's 1,600 members about their concerns.