Members of AFSCME Local 1303-112 (Rocky Hill Town Employees) are celebrating a new contract along with multiple lessons they learned about the process of negotiations.
Mark your calendars for the biennial Council 4 Conference, April 5-7, 2019 at the Mystic Marriot in Groton, CT.
We've got a busy and informative weekend planned. Highlights include workshops, our Member Recognition Dinner and our Women's Committee Gift Basket Charity Auction, which will benefit Safe Futures of New London, a shelter that helps victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse.
Building bridges with the community has been a motivating force for Anthony Nolan, a New London Patrol Officer and member of AFSCME Local 724.
As a 19-year veteran on the force, Nolan views part of his job as “trying to close the gap between the police and the community. It encourages me to see the relationships I can build and the help I can provide.”
Killingly school bus drivers – members of AFSCME Local 1303-261— see their work as more than simply transporting kids to school. They are responsible for protecting those kids, making sure they get to school and return home safe and sound.
Thanks to a collaboration with Council 4, they now have something they have been advocating for: miniature dash cameras that record the activities of motorists while the drivers are picking up and dropping off school children.
Tim Foley of AFSCME Local 818 (Municipal Supervisors) is a man who treasures stability.
For example, he’s been married to his wife Suzanne for 42 years. And on Jan. 31, he retired from the Vernon Water Pollution Control Authority after 44 years on the job.
The secret to his career longevity was simple.
“I loved the job,” he said with a characteristic mix of humor and earnestness. “Where else can you take [human waste] and turn it into clean water?”
A pension is more than a promise to current and future retired workers. It’s a great way to attract and retain workers to public service. Just ask State Parole Officer James Long of AFSCME Local 1565 (NP-4 Department of Correction Bargaining Unit).
“A defined benefit plan is a much better retirement tool than a defined contribution plan,” he says. “It’s one of the main benefits that attracted to me public service.”
The US Department of Labor (USDOL) sent a letter on January 31, 2019 to officers of Council 4 local unions that had not yet submitted delegate credential documentation for the upcoming nominations and elections.
The power of collective bargaining to improve the lives of union members can be witnessed in New Haven, where the members of AFSCME Local 713, representing clerical and maintenance employees at Elm City Communities/Housing Authority of New Haven (HANH), recently ratified a new contract with significant gains.
Three years ago, Bridgeport, Connecticut, Police Lt. Paul Grech of AFSCME Local 1159, Council 4 suffered a broken neck on the job when a civilian motorist crashed her car into his city vehicle.
“Without surgery, I’d have been in a wheelchair,” the 19-year veteran said about the injury, which put him out of work for 10 weeks.
If not for their union, Grech and several other Bridgeport police officers injured on the job since 2015 would have been shortchanged permanently on a wage supplement owed them under their collective bargaining agreement with the city.
