What are your thoughts about the state workers' layoff's, SEBAC chaging the rules, etc?

Well I would love to layoff Malloy but since we can't we will have to look for other types of reform. 

Lots can be done to rein in spending and avoid layoffs. Measures such as salary cuts for the highest paid employees, beginning with the Executive branch, followed by political appointees, the Dept of Healthcare and Higher Ed, legislators, etc.  We can also do away with double dipping.  For the double dippers in the system an immediate selection, retirement or employment but they CANNOT KEEP BOTH. Additionally why don’t the unions collect their own dues from their members? The state should not be a collection agency for the union.

Leaders could also look to bring about pension reform that saves the state money NOW.  Workers should keep the benefits earned to date, but from here on out pension, plans should be like a 401K with employer contribution. For health benefits, the state should contribute a specific amount towards the premium but plans cannot continue to provide the generous coverage for the same small employee contribution. Towards the end, the state could look to offer two different plans such as a high deductible and co pay plan whereby the state picks up most of the premium cost, and to help employees offset out of pocket medical expenses pair it with a pre-tax health savings account. For those who want to keep the present system allow them to keep it, but they should pay the premium difference.

Folks, there are choices available but the truth is that neither the politicians nor the Union want major transformation. In fact, both the politicians and the union leaders have played the taxpayers as well as you, the state workers.

Collectively we have bought into the argument that the “state employees are greedy Primadonas” and “taxpayers hate you; they want you to lose your job”. WRONG! Neither side is an enemy of the other. At the end of the day, politicians have had the last word in contract negotiations and it is THEY who chose to allow a bad situation to spiral out of control.

Take notice of legislators’ silence and their willingness to give up the power of the purse to the Executive branch. They disowned the whole mess. Legislators’ went to bat for the municipalities because most municipal workers are district voters. However,   not one of them has done anything to help bring about meaningful reform that saves money and helps the state workers keep their jobs.

Union leaders also want to keep the status quo because they are not affected by layoffs; their elites enjoy all sorts of special protections and “bumping” rights. They also make up the rules that members have to play by, and if they do not like an outcome, they change the rules as SEBAC did. REFORM WOULD KILL THE GOLDEN GOOSE.

On the other hand, Malloy and union leaders have made it possible for taxpayers and state workers to stop demonizing each other long enough to take a second look around us. Some on both sides are actually speaking. And while this is  more likely  than not, an “un-intended” consequence of the past several days imagine if we  were to UNITE and work towards finding win/win solutions that take into account the wellbeing of ALL residents and bring back prosperity.  Would that not be poetic justice?