Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration has reached tentative contract agreements with 35 state employee bargaining units covering the bulk of the state’s unionized workforce, union leaders announced Tuesday.

The State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition did not release most details of the tentative contracts, including average wage hikes and any special pandemic-related compensation.

The package does include a voluntary prescription drug program that will save employees taking specialty drugs hundreds or even thousands of dollars annually, the coalition wrote in a statement on its website.

The tentative deals, which would affect about 43,000 employees, are “strong agreements” that “will proudly be reported” to the rank-and-file for possible ratification. SEBAC includes all major state employee unions excluding state police.

Coalition leaders added in another written statement that negotiators achieved “fair and honorable contracts at each local table and look forward to the role those contracts will play in protecting the critical public services upon which all of Connecticut’s communities rely.”

The tentative settlement removes a potential source of friction between the Democratic governor and labor before Lamont’s reelection campaign shifts into high gear this summer.

“The Lamont administration is pleased to have a tentative agreement that honors the state’s fiscal priorities through positive and productive negotiations with our state’s workforce,” Office of Policy and Management Secretary Jeffrey Beckham, the governor’s budget director, wrote in a statement Tuesday. “The process for ratification by SEBAC will now begin, and it is a process we will respect. Further details on the agreement will be provided upon final ratification and submittal to the Connecticut General Assembly for approval.”

Though details were limited Tuesday, a recent arbitration award involving unionized state probation officers and other professional court staff included a 3% cost of living raise for the current fiscal year.

Lamont’s revised budget proposal for the fiscal year beginning July 1 — the first year most of these agreements would affect — includes $171 million in the state’s reserve for salary adjustments.

The governor also proposed carrying forward $75 million from the current fiscal year for recruitment incentives and to fund hazard or premium pay for front line workers who risked their health during the coronavirus pandemic.

Lamont has had a mixed relationship with labor during his first three years in office.

While Lamont has won praise for supporting minimum wage hikes and a paid family and medical leave program, unions have criticized his refusal to support tax hikes on wealthy households and major corporations. These moves, labor leaders say, are essential to fund major, long-term tax relief for Connecticut’s poor and middle class.

Lamont has blocked funding for the State Contracting Standards Board, arguing other state agencies provide a similar watchdog service. Unions disagree and say the board is one of the most important reforms to state purchasing rules following the contracting kickback scandals that led Gov. John G. Rowland to resign amidst an impeachment inquiry in June 2004.

SEBAC also has clashed with Lamont over efforts to shrink the state’s workforce, particularly as a surge in worker retirements arrives this spring and summer.

According to Comptroller Natalie Braswell’s office, nearly 1,000 state employees formally filed for retirement between Jan. 1 and March 1. More importantly, at least 2,140 more have notified the state, in writing, of their plans to retire between April and July 1 — and officials expect that number to continue to grow rapidly over the next four months.

Estimates from the comptroller’s office hold that as many as 12,000 employees, or roughly one quarter of the workforce, will be eligible to retire this spring or summer.

Keith M. Phaneuf is a reporter for The Connecticut Mirror (www.ctmirror.org). Copyright 2022 © The Connecticut Mirror.

kphaneuf@ctmirror.org