Connecticut Superior Court Judge ruling dismisses Administration’s appeal of Labor Board's recognition of State Police captains and lieutenants' union rights
HARTFORD—Department of Public Safety (DPS) State Police commissioned officers are urging Governor M. Jodi Rell to accept the latest Court ruling in the Administration's on-going refusal to recognize their rights to a voice on the job. In a victory for state taxpayers and workers' rights advocates, Superior Court Judge Henry S. Cohn dismissed the State's latest appeal of the original Labor Board decision certifying the July 2006 union election by captains and lieutenants working at the DPS.
"After the Attorney General refused to take the Administration's case last fall, we hoped that would be the end of their foot-dragging" Ed Gould, the Vice-President of the CSEA/SEIU Local 2001 chapter representing captains and lieutenants working at the DPS said. "So of course we were outraged when we learned that the Governor's Office of Policy and Management (OPM) had contracted a private law firm for $225,000.00 to fight the State's own Labor Board" Gould, a lieutenant with twenty-one years of service with the State Police, continued.
The May 22 Superior ruling came as the State faces a reported $68 million budget shortfall, and followed orders by the Governor to her State agency commissioners and management personnel to cut costs wherever possible. The day after dismissing the Administration’s appeal, the Governor ordered a hiring "freeze" to combat revenue deficits and an anticipated $150 million shortfall in the next fiscal year.
"The Administration has twenty days to accept the Superior Court ruling, or file yet another appeal" Gould continued. "Surely the Governor will agree that now is not the time to be wasting taxpayer money on expensive private law firms" he concluded.
The Labor Board has twice ordered the Administration to begin negotiations with State Police commissioned officers who voted unanimously to join CSEA/SEIU Local 2001. The Attorney General affirmed the decision by deciding not to represent the State in its appeal, and now, a Superior Court Judge is supporting these previous rulings. The captains and lieutenants have long maintained that the Administration should stop wasting taxpayer resources on endless litigation and begin negotiations on working conditions and wage compression issues they first brought to the attention of leadership at the DPS five years ago.
CSEA/SEIU Local 2001 represents 25,000 active and retired public sector workers across Connecticut, and is an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the nation's second largest public employees union. Visit www.seiu2001.org for more information online about the union’s advocacy in gaining dignity and respect for public sector workers and improving the quality of the services they deliver.