SEBAC's Response to Lamont's Re-opening Announcement

The Lamont administration has announced their plans today to, by June 1st, head towards a full reopening of State buildings and other State departments that have been fully or partially closed since the Covid-19 pandemic hit last March.  We know that public services are essential to our communities and to Connecticut’s well being, and we look forward to continuing and expanding our ability to help Connecticut’s communities not just recover from the pandemic, but begin to overcome the decades of growth of income and wealth inequality by race and class that has left all working families, public and private, and particularly people of color, falling far behind the tiny percentage of billionaires and multi millionaires who are continuing to thrive in Connecticut’s economy.

That being said, the safety of the public and public employees must always remain paramount.   State buildings must continue to provide for appropriate social distancing, disinfection and sterilization protocols and ventilation until the pandemic is truly behind us.    

We also must preserve the positive lessons of the past 14 months in terms of the effectiveness, efficiency, and social benefits of teleworking where jobs can be performed outside of the worksite. Those benefits not only include improved productivity and morale, but reduced highway overcrowding and carbon emissions. In that it is unfortunate that the PDF icon email to state employees issued by the governor today suggests a possible retreat from the advantages of telework.   Our Coalition is committed to moving forward, not backwards, on this critical issue, and has issued PDF icon this letter to the Administration so indicating.