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Late last week, negotiators for state employee unions and Governor Dannel Malloy reached another agreement that would save money, scale back benefits, and avoid layoffs.
Now, as WNPR's Jeff Cohen reports, it's up to the unions to again cast their ballots.
Malloy says the deal with state workers is the same deal they rejected earlier this summer. Only this time, the union has changed its rules for voting and lowered the bar for passage.
The governor says he hopes they move quickly on what he calls a clarified agreement.
"I hope it will be done on an expedited basis. I think everybody needs to have an answer as soon as possible. There are a lot of people out there, and families, who have a lot to consider right now."
As of last week, the state had issued nearly 2,000 layoff notices. Malloy said similar notices will continue.
"Oh, absolutely. We're going to continue to notify everyone whose job would be interrupted should the package not pass."
Asked whether he thought all of the state's unions should revote, the governor said this:
"It's not a new deal. So, you know, I think if some unions want to revote and some unions don't want to revote, that's up to them. It's not as if this is in any way a changed package."
In a statement over the weekend, labor officials said that individual unions would set their own voting schedules.
For WNPR, I'm Jeff Cohen
