While it won't be formally announced until later today, the Stamford Advocate reports:
As many as 11 of the 15 state unions have apparently approved the $1.6 billion in contract concessions that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has been seeking since March.
Sources familiar with the statewide voting of public employees said Wednesday that the second time was a charm for accepting the concessions, averting thousands of layoffs and killing off pending legislation that could dramatically change the landscape of future health and pension benefits for state employees.
Both Malloy's administration and union officials declined comment on the votes Wednesday. But with new ground rules and a sense of urgency underscored by thousands of layoff notices issued in recent weeks, it was practically inevitable that given a chance to rethink the concessions, state unions would accept.
While no one's thrilled with the need to do this, let's contrast a few headlines about other states:
Columbus Dispatch:
Clock ticking, Kasich pushes for SB 5 deal
Foes demand repeal of law before they’d cancel referendum, negotiate revised bill
CNN:
Analyst: Wisconsin shows union battle is 'political dynamite'
StarTribune:
Wisconsin recalls: Is Gov. Scott Walker next?
There are no occupations of the Capitol, or effigy hangings for Governor Dannel Malloy. (Nutmeggers will do that
when their ire is up.)
The address [from Lowell Weicker proposing an income tax] created a storm of controversy and incited the largest single protest in the history of the state. Weicker was compared to Adolf Hitler, received threats to his safety, and was hanged in effigy. Many of the people who had voted for his election felt betrayed by his decision.
While there's a lot to be unhappy about in Malloy's budget, he kept his word to work with the unions. And
he's not Chris Christie:
After New Jersey Gov. Chris Cristie told Morning Joe's Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough that Dannel Malloy "has got to read the governor's owners manual" and said he would be "waiting at the border" to snatch Connecticut jobs this morning, our man in charge responded that Connecticut is "a little bit different." Malloy's plan would raise taxes and demand concessions from unions; Christie is cutting taxes and jobs. Connecticut has lower taxes than New Jersey.
Malloy suggested that Connecticut is a more thoughtful and caring state than New Jersey:
The people of Connecticut .. don't want to close nursing homes ... they don't want to close schools. Our taxes are lower than New Jersey, lower than New York.
We'll have to wait and see what the agreement does to Malloy's otherwise low poll numbers (38-44 approve-disapprove in the June
Q-poll). But that was a political eon ago.