NOW IS THE TIME TO CONTACT YOUR STATE SENATOR AND URGE THEM TO SUPPORT COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

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Connecticut House of Representatives passes SEBAC package by a vote of 78/72.

The close vote in the House was largely along party lines, with Republicans wanting to reject the deal and seeking more substantial concessions from organized labor.

The Senate, which is tied at 18/18,  is expected to act on the SEBAC package Monday, July 31st.  The Senate will determine the fate of SEBAC 2017.  The vote is expected to be close.

AFT CT has organized a letter writing campaign.  Use this link to contact your senator and urge them to support the Agreement.

SEBAC released the following statement regarding passage by the House:

We commend the House on making an important vote to protect critical public services and move our state forward by approving the SEBAC 2017 agreement. This agreement saves $24 billion over the next twenty years, eliminates 30% of our budget deficit and is the largest savings agreement in our state’s history. Through collective bargaining, we achieved every penny of savings originally sought by the Governor. We urge the Senate to vote quickly to preserve the full value of the agreement.

Updated 7/25

The SEBAC Tentative Agreement, which was overwhelmingly ratified by members, is being considered by the Legislature.  The Tentative Agreement will not take effect unless it is accepted by the Legislature.  The House may act as soon as today, and the Senate is expected to act on the Agreement on Monday, July 31.

The outcome of these votes will determine our fate.  If the Agreement is rejected by the Legislature, we are bound for binding arbitration, layoffs, and will continue to operate under threat of losing collective bargaining altogether.

It is vital that you contact your legislator and  urge them to support the SEBAC Tentative Agreement.

AFT CT has organized a letter writing campaign.  Use this link to contact your legislator and urge them to support the Agreement.

- posted 7/24

By Dr. Kathy Jenkins, President of the NMHU Facutly & Staff Association 

Tension with the NMHU administration has increased over the past several months and the university now is questioning our right to use the NMHU website, emails, and other resources to share union activities and contact members.  Although we are fighting the university’s narrow definition of the Anti-Donations clause in NM law, we took this opportunity to create our own website.  It will be a place where we can share information, talk freely, archive our newsletters and other documents, without control from the NMHU administration.  It will also be a website where we can share all of the won

Public Act 92 of 2017, which was signed into law today, discontinues the option to initiate a service credit purchase as of September 29, 2017. This change in the law has no other effect on your pension or retiree healthcare benefits, and it does not affect purchases you’ve already made or tax-deferred payment agreements you may already have in place.

If you’re planning a service credit purchase, full payment for the amount of service you wish to buy or a fully completed Tax-Deferred Payment (TDP) Agreement (R0392C) signed by both you and your employer must be received in our office by 5:00 p.m. EDT, September 29, 2017. Any service credit applications received after that time will not be processed and payments will be refunded appropriately. However, the ability to receive credit for time spent in military service and to reinstate service credit by repaying any refunded pension contributions will remain available to you after that date.

To find out what types of service credit you may be eligible to purchase, the rules, the cost, and how to purchase, our website is your best resource. Go to www.michigan.gov/orsschools and click on Service Credit – Earning and Purchasing.

The best way to find out the cost of buying various types of service credit is to use the tools available in miAccount – log in at www.michigan.gov/orsmiaccount. First, create a pension estimate. The Estimate Pension tool lets you enter any number of “what-if?” scenarios to create multiple estimates. Next, click on Your Service. From there, you can estimate the cost of purchasing Universal Buy-In service credit and various other types. After calculating your cost, click on “When will I recover this cost.” The Breakeven Point for Your Service Purchase calculator uses one of your pension estimates to determine how many years after retiring it would take to recover the cost of your purchase.

Watch for a letter in the mail from our office with more details. If you have any questions after reviewing the resources on our website, log in to miAccount and use our online Message Board for secure, direct access to our representatives.

Sincerely,

Office of Retirement Services

DETROIT – Teachers, parents, students and supporters from across metro Detroit will be holding a rally and march for public education at Clark Park in southwest Detroit this Saturday, July 22, 2017. The event is from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is being held as part of a national march in Washington, D.C. and 15 other cities across the country. 

Voting on the DFT tentative contract agreement with the Detroit Public Schools Community District has been extended from Wednesday, July 19 to Friday, July 21.

Ballots must be postmarked by that date.  Ballots will be counted on Thursday, July 27, beginning at 2 p.m. at the Detroit Association of Educational Office Employees headquarters, located at 115 West Willis St., Detroit, MI 48201-1809.  Members will have the opportunity to observe the ballot-counting process at that time.

Remember, if you have questions regarding our Tentative Agreement with DPSCD, please call us at 313-875-3500, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Results of voting on A&R's successor agreement are as follows:

A&R Contract Tentative Agreement

• Yes   84.32%
• No    15.68%

The 15 voting members of SEBAC agreed not to release the Pension/healthcare voting results until all bargaining units have completed voting.  All bargaining units will be completed today.

The next step in the process is to report the A&R vote at SEBAC, which is anticipated to meet later today.  At SEBAC, if the threshold of 10 voting members declare that the Pension/healthcare TA passed their membership (and the 10 voting members constitute 66% of state employee union membership) then the Pension/healthcare TA will pass and both the Pension/healthcare TA and the A&R contract will be submitted to the legislature for acceptance.  

Posted 7/17

During the heat of the summer, water is a real magnet for birds and other wildlife looking to cool off and get a drink.