Union Calls for Declaration of a Fiscal Emergency

 

Gov Lamont and House members were welcomed to the Capitol the last Saturday of the legislative session demanding funds for needed programs. The 200 CSEA SEIU Local 2001 union members called for taking down the fiscal guardrails that are siphoning away funding. 

“With the second largest surplus in our state’s history projected, we should not be fighting over crumbs,” they said. They called on the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and adjust the archaic fiscal guardrails to allow for critical investment in core programs that will meet immediate needs and improve economic stability. 

“It is morally unjust and fiscally irresponsible to sit on billions in surplus while core programs are woefully underfunded. We can do better - we can’t afford not to.,” their statement declared.

In his remarks, president Travis Woodward emphasized,“Too many people in this state are scraping by while billionaires hoard more and more. Our communities are shortchanged by broken budget rules and a political system too afraid to tax the wealthy,”

“We need affordable health care, paid time off, and stability. We can’t keep holding the system up while we’re being crushed underneath it,” added Maria Reyes, President of the SCEA Childcare Council.

“This is personal. It’s about whether students like my son AJ have the support they need. Whether paras like me can stay in this profession. Whether this state is going to stand up and do the right thing—or keep hiding behind roadblocks and excuses,” said Vicky Celyan, a Danbury Public School Paraeducator declaring, “Connecticut has the money.”

“What happens when you stack this kind of uncertainty—on top of an effective pay cut come July 1st, on top of grants being canceled, on top of federal attacks on immigrants and science? You lose the next generation of public service workers,” explained Meghan Cahill, an Agricultural Research Technician, “This is a turning point. An inflection point. Our state can either commit to the values and people that make Connecticut strong—or it can abandon us the same way the federal government has.”