Reports of the concession plan’s demise may be greatly exaggerated.
At least that’s what one union official and a state rep. think.
Reporter Brian Lockhart wrote on his blog “Political Capitol” that a do-over vote could be the way Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and SEBAC react to a potential no-vote from the union on their concession deal.
Citing a recent example in the Baltimore schools system, a union official said that a second vote could happen. In Baltimore, essentially, labor leaders thought that the rejection was so disastrous that they made a renewed push to explain the deal to members and tweaked it a bit before staging another round of voting.
“It ain’t over until the votes are counted, and maybe not even then,” said the Connecticut union official.
State Rep. Zeke Zalaski, D-Southington, a private sector union leader who co-chairs the legislature’s labor committee, believes the Baltimore example is exactly what will play out in Connecticut should Malloy and union officials need a Plan B.
Zalaski noted Malloy has said this is not a situation where the parties will return to the negotiating table with the expectation state workers will be offered more.
“He made himself clear he’s not offering them more. I just don’t think they’ll get more. As we always say, they’ll move the furniture around,” Zalaski said, adding the union at his plant once held three votes.
“All there has to be are minor changes to the contract offered to make them have another vote. Under the rules there has to be a change. They can’t bring the exact same contract back and vote again,” Zalaski said. “That’s what I think will happen. You never imply to members that if you go back to the well we’ll get more. Then they’ll always send you back to the well. All it could be is a shuffling around where there is no more, they just move the furniture around. They (labor leaders) get another chance to get another vote and really explain it properly.”