Unions begin voting on concession deal

Hartford, Conn (WTNH) - One of the largest of the state labor unions started voting on that big concession deal Tuesday, and their votes could make or break the deal.

The nearly 16,000 members of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees are about one-third of the state's unionized workforce.

"Council 4, AFSCME, is the largest of the fifteen unions in the coalition that count as a single vote for or against any agreement impacting all of SEBAC, the coalition of state worker unions," said Matt O'Connor from the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition.

As of Tuesday, five of the fifteen state labor unions have voted to approve the concession deal. A total of ten are in the process of voting, and will conclude by the end of this week.

Another unit of the Correction Department unions is voting this week. Two of their locals have voted against the deal, and so has one other smaller unit.

"We have a threshold that requires 14 out of those 15 unions to ratify, and that includes the nearly 16,000 member council 4, AFSCME, as well as the 50 member federation of school administrators," said O'Connor.

Here's the reason AFSCME is so important; in addition to getting 14 of the 15 unions to okay the deal, the unions in favor must have membership equal to 80-percent of the 45,000 member union workforce. Big numbers from AFSCME members could offset any negative votes.