Labor Dispute Over Election Is Headed To Court
Officials with the United Public Service Employees Union said Thursday that they will be appealing the 2-to-1 Connecticut Board of Labor Relations decision that they say denies 6,200 state employees the right to join a union of their choice.
“The two board members who voted to deny worker’s rights and instead to protect the rights of the State of Connecticut and the incumbent unions, clearly got it wrong, and we are confident that the courts will ultimately vindicate the rights of Connecticut State Workers,” UPSEU President Kevin E. Boyle, Jr. said Thursday.
The majority of the labor board found that the window of time UPSEU had to file their petition for an election expired when the state legislature ratified the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition contract in 2011. Even though the unions failed to vote in favor of the concession package at that time the legislature approved it , the majority of the labor board decided it had no power to overturn the will of the legislature. The SEBAC unions ended up ratifying the concession package last August.
