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Tuition
Reimbursement Fund Nearly Exhausted
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DAS's
A&R OJE Report Not Expected Until
Fall
Union
representatives will review DAS's report
and the OJE forms members submitted and
determine which classes have a chance
for an upgrading
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Retirees'
Web Page.
Retirees
News and Notes for July 2010 (posted
7/26)
Retirees'
Picnic June 18, 2010
Retirees' Meeting Schedule
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A&R
Wage Scales for 2010-2011 and 2011-2012
Note:
Most A&R employees have January
increments and will receive the ninth
step in January, 2011.
Note:
These are future pay scales, not the
current one.
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Attention
Retiree
Social Tripsters:
Now
you can double your pleasure, double
your fun. In addition to Retiree
Council activities, all A&R
Retirees are welcome to particpate in
the social activities of our parent
active A&R Local 4200.
Additionally, all active A&R
members are welcome to attend the
social activities of the A&R
Retiree Council.
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Link
to New A&R Layoff Seniority List in
Excel Format as of 11/1/09
Posted 12/14
Transfers
created by cost-saving agency
consolidations are governed by our
contract's layoff seniority provisions
as a result of SEBAC negotiations.
The time listed should be the total time served in A&R, including before and after any breaks in service, up to
11/1/09.
Report any and all mistakes to your agency's human resources division. A&R does not have access to CORE-CT and cannot enter corrections.
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Medically
Necessary Pharmacy Form Now Available
Here, Do Not Pay $25 for a Drug if
Your Doctor Believes it's Medically
Necessary
(posted
11/5)
If your give this form to your doctor
and he/she completes it identifying
why your particular drug is medically
necessary and faxes it to Caremark you
will never have to pay $25 for a
prescription.
Download
form.
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Latest
NIOSH Report on 25 Sigourney Street
(posted
11/6)
"...remediation
did not resolve the health issues in the
building."
"Initiate
a surveillance program to monitor
occupants' symptoms and new onset of
possible building-related illnesses."
For a copy of NIOSH's conclusions and
recommendations use this
link.
For a complete report call the A&R
office at 953-1316.
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Why Those Allergic to 25 Sigourney Street Should Get Out and Stay Out
(updated 10/17)
Use this
link to play a
QuickTime movie of Dr. Storey's testimony (20-second download).
Using antihistamines all year round? Feel better after long weekends and vacations just to go back to feeling poorly shortly after you return to work? There is a procedure to get out of the building before your allergic reactions to dusts in the building lead to a permanent, possibly serious and progressive illness. Call the Union at 1-800-842-4443 for details.
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Being Transferred? Call the Union.
(reposted 9/4)
The SEBAC agreement and our contract provide for transfers by
layoff seniority and impose travel mileage limits on final reassignments. Some agencies seem uninformed about the contracts' language. If you're being transferred call the union at 1-800-842-4443 so that your rights will be protected.
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A&R Committees Looking for Volunteers
(posted 7/1)
The following A&R Committees are looking for volunteers:
Budget Committee
Communications and Publicity Committee
Negotiating Committee
Social Committee
Professional Development Committee
Social Committee
Health and Safety Committee
Committee on Political Education
Civil Human and Women's Rights Committee.
If you, or a group of employees from your worksite is interested, telephone the Union office at 1-800-842-4443. We'll have the chairperson of the committee which interests you call you back with the details.
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Furlough Days and AWS
(posted 6/23)
Nothing in the recent SEBAC agreement with the State of Connecticut authorizes the State to modify any A&R AWS program.
A&R has voluntarily agreed to allow agencies to require members on 5/4 schedules to "flip" their short weeks (i.e., to take their short week in the week that doesn’t contain the furlough day and the holiday), and to require members on 4/4 schedules to work three eight hour days in any pay week in which a furlough day and a holiday occur. Other than these two exceptions, agencies cannot require A&R members to alter their current AWS schedules.
If your agency is requiring you to change your AWS schedule in ways other than the two exceptions noted above, please call Don Levenson at the Union Office at (860) 953-1316 so that these changes can be addressed.
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Michael Petosa Named Chairperson of the Negotiating Committee
(posted 6/15)
Michael
Petosa, Supervisor of Education, Safety and Health Services at the Workers Compensation Commission was confirmed as Chief Negotiator and Chairperson of the Negotiating Committee by the Representative Assembly at its meeting on June 9th.Chairperson Petosa will be responsible for the process by which we obtain our next contract. If you have ideas for the next contract, you can e-mail them to
mailar@aol.com.
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Compensatory Time Does Not Expire in A&R
In 2003, Accenture's staff called the A&R office to let us know our compensatory time would expire after six months because that was how CORE-CT was going to be programmed. After a brief chuckle at the audacity of the caller, A&R's President at the time informed Accenture that our members earn compensatory time under our contract, and could not be deprived of earned time without due process. Such due process would have to be in the contract. Under some union contracts compensatory time does expire. In A&R's contract there is no time-related "comp-time" expiration clause. For A&R members compensatory time stays on the books until taken, or until the member is paid for the compensatory time, or retires. (Unused compensatory time does "expire" at retirement. See Article 16, Section Five(d)(4) of the contract.) Since 2003, the "expiration" issue has come up several times and each time the member was able to use the compensatory time.
Make sure that any compensatory time earned appears on your official time and attendance records. A new manager might not consider him/herself bound by an "under-the-table" arrangement and you might not be able to prove you earned the compensatory time.
Under specific circumstances, departments may choose to pay cash in lieu of comp time. See Article 16, Section Five(d) subparagraphs (5) and (6), and Article 17, Section Four.
If any member is threatened with the loss of compensatory time, please call the Union at (860) 953-1316 or 1-800-842-4443.
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DOIT and Agencies Reviewing E-mails and Computer Hard Drives
(posted 3/27)
The Department of Information Technology (DOIT) and many state agencies are reviewing e-mails and contents of hard drives of state employees. State employees are being walked out the door after personal business and/or pornographic material is found. If state employees have been sharing such materials, the trail leads from employee to employee to employee.
Do not use state equipment for anything other than state business!
If you're accused of misusing your computer, say nothing and contact the union. Say nothing, even if you know you're innocent. It is our experience that giving management an explanation does not make the charge go away. By defending yourself, you may lose the right to refuse to answer questions (Article 14, Section Six(b) of our contract).
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Social Committee Events
To sign up for an event, call 1-800-842-4443. For more information click
here.
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DAS States that Employees can Use State Computers to Visit Union Websites
DAS has some surprising new answers to what it calls frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the Acceptable Use of State Systems Policy.
20. Q: Can an employee use the state telephone to receive/make calls relating to doctors appointments, union matters and/or check on status of children, etc?
A: Yes. However, time spent on personal calls should be kept to a minimum.
22. Q: May a caller leave a personal message in an employee's voicemail box? For example, if a doctor's office is calling to confirm an appointment?
A: Yes. However, these types of situations should be limited to only those requiring prompt attention.
25: Q. Is it okay for employees to visit their union's website using a State computer?
A: Yes
26. Q: Is it okay for users to distribute Union information via (State) e-mail?
A: No.
27: Q: Is it okay for employees to use (State) e-mail to contact their Union Steward to arrange for representation?
A: Yes
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Union Attorney Available for Workers Compensation Appeals
A&R has a surprising (for a white-collar union) number of Workers Compensation claims. Besides workers being injured on the job, claims are being filed because the leaky State-owned or leased buildings make some members sick. If a member loses his/her claim at the first step of the Workers Compensation process, he/she should file an appeal and then contact the A&R Union (1-800-842-4443). Through an arrangement with AFT CT, the Union will provide an attorney to handle the appeal hearing before the Workers Compensation commissioner.
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Update Your A&R Member Information
Members please contact the A&R Union office at 800-842-4443 with any changes to your home address, agency or job title. We DO NOT receive these changes from your Human Resources Department.
