Malloy’s Union deal is like Playing Freeze Tag

Photo by April Dawn Winsley

First a little credit where it is due. I had my doubts about Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s ability to actually wring 2 billion dollars in concessions out of the state’s unions. It looks like he pulled it off. 1.6 billion in concessions is better than I thought he’d do so I’ll give him a 400 thousand dollar pass.


Having said that, let’s take a closer look at what the deal actually means.

The deal is a four-year, no-layoff agreement through June 2015 that applies only to current union employees. In exchange, there would be a hard wage freeze for all unionized employees that includes wages, longevity pay, increments, and lump sums that would last for two years. There would also be no longevity pay for newly hired state employees.

After those two years, the unions would receive 3 percent pay increases on the first day of the new fiscal year on July 1, 2013, 2014, and 2015, according to Christopher Keating at Courant.com.

In other words, as long as Dannel Malloy is Governor, the size and scope of state government will not shrink by a single person. In fact, the state payroll will most likely increase. Note the fact that the deal does NOT include a hiring freeze, only a wage freeze for current employees. In fact, by calling for the creation of a Tier III in the state pension system for new employees hired after July 1, the administration shows an expectation and willingness to increase the state’s payroll burden on the taxpayers over the next four years.

Malloy achieved his “concessions” by simply freezing the rate at which the state is spending itself into oblivion for as short time after which the spending spree will continue.

It’s like kids playing freeze tag. They stop for few seconds then continue running around like crazy.

Without any meaningful cuts in spending, the Malloy deal is really just playing political freeze tag.

But our governor is no dummy. In four years Malloy can now say, “I got tough with the labor unions won concessions.” He didn’t really get tough but it works in a stump speech. He can say, “I held the line on state salaries.” While at the same time state payroll continues to grow in size.

The truth is, the problem has not been address, only kicked down the road four years but what then? The problem is still there. The state is still sliding toward the abyss of insolvency due to out-of-control spending.

Perhaps like Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, the governor is saying, “I’ll think about that tomorrow.”