It It was the day before a key vote on a deal between the state employee unions and the Malloy administration and Karen Pohl wasn't taking any chances.The 29-year-old from Middletown, who works in the storm water enforcement and permit division of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, came to a union hall in Hartford Tuesday afternoon to pick up a thick stack of fliers and stickers. She plans to distribute them to her fellow state workers in hopes of convincing them to back the plan.
For Pohl, it's personal: she has already received a layoff notice and will most certainly lose her job if the pact once again fails to meet the threshold for passage. "It's a fair agreement,'' she said. "In this bad economy, to be offered four years of no layoffs'' is a good deal.
The agreement hammered out by the administration and union negotiators last spring calls for a two-year wage freeze as well as changes to health care and pension benefits. In exchange, the unions secured a four-year, no-layoff clause and a pledge they will not be required to take unpaid furlough days. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy says the changes will save the state $1.6 billion over the next two years.
If the agreement is not approved, Malloy has said he will have no choice but to layoff thousands of state workers and sharply cut services.