There appears to be a misconception among Connecticut Democrats and the media that Republicans have abandoned their call for a state employee wage freeze.
Most Senate Republicans did vote last week for a wage increase for the state’s lowest-paid workers in the Service & Maintenance NP-2 union. According to data from the State Comptroller, about 600 of the 3,600 NP-2 workers are custodians who made an average of about $42,000 last fiscal year. That’s only $9,000 above the federal poverty line for a family of four.
There’s a world of difference between voting to raise the pay of state workers who qualify for food stamps and approving a raise for the rest of state workers making an average of $95,000.
Governor Lamont has yet to announce actual new contracts for more than three-quarters of the state workforce. He claims to have reached tentative agreements with 10 more unions with a combined 20,000 employees (out of almost 50,000), but without releasing the actual contracts. So, there will be plenty of opportunity to see how well the Democrat-media misconception holds up.
Among of the upcoming contracts is the Administrative Clerical union (NP-3), which may be the next lowest-paid group of state workers. State data shows that there were about 2,650 full-time NP-3 workers who worked the full year in fiscal 2025; they earned an average of about $57,000. That excludes new hires and terminations during the year, as well as part-time workers.
The difference between these two lowest-paid groups of workers, NP-2 and NP-3, is night and day, with NP-3 making almost 40% more than NP-2 custodians. The Senate GOP’s concern for underpaid NP-2 workers may not extend even to NP-3, much less to UCONN professors making six figures.
It is difficult to conceive of the GOP ignoring that, already under Governor Lamont, state employees have received a 33% wage increase, driven by six consecutive annual raises.
It is not just wages. When the Governor increases wages, he is increasing pension costs. The pension liability under this administration has increased $10 billion from $34 to $44 billion. The Governor’s “pension progress” is largely an illusion. It would be very surprising, if the Senate GOP forgot or ignored this reality and approved more wage increases.
More likely, the two GOP caucuses in Hartford are going to vote “no” while asking the Governor and those across the aisle why state employees should be getting additional pay raises when Democrats have given the Governor a half-billion-dollar emergency fund supposedly to absorb cutbacks in federal aid. If there’s a financial emergency, how can there be hundreds of millions available for state employee pay raises?”
Moreover, just last week, we learned that the state has slipped into a deficit this fiscal year. Unless April income tax revenues exceed projection, the Governor is going to have to impose spending cuts to bring the budget into balance… while still paying state employees wage increases that will take the 33% they have already received over the past six years to a whopping 60% over ten years. That would be amazing… but would the media report that contrast?
Senate Republicans have voted for healthy raises for the State Police as well as last week’s Service & Maintenance union. Why the exceptions to their call for a wage freeze?
In both cases, Senate Republicans voted to repair damage done by the Governor and the Democrats. The State Police have had real difficulty retaining and recruiting officers as the result of the Democrat’s anti-police bias and action. The police accountability act has dramatically increased officers’ personal liability and tied their hands in the field, to the point that they cannot arrest or detain suspects without going through a long checklist.
Nothing more need be said about raising wages for state workers who are certain to be living on food stamps.
These two cases are unlikely to signify any GOP change of heart about a state employee wage freeze; more likely, they represent exceptions that prove the rule.
The media might ask the Governor why he cannot impose a wage freeze, if the state is in deficit and in the midst of a financial emergency. His predecessor, Democrat Dannel Malloy, froze wages in such circumstances.
To paraphrase one of the state’s most famous citizens: the rumors of the death of GOP opposition to unfair, over-generous and unsustainable state employee wage increases are almost certainly greatly exaggerated.
Red Jahncke is a nationally recognized columnist, who writes about politics and policy. His columns appear in numerous national publications, such as The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, USA Today, The Hill, Issues & Insights and National Review as well as many Connecticut newspapers.