UE NEWS Updates

As the COVID-19 pandemic began spreading in the U.S. in March, it quickly became clear that the regional council meetings scheduled for late March and early April — large in-person gatherings of people from many states — could not be held as initially planned. But after lengthy discussions between national and regional leadership, assisted by technical expertise from UE staff, both new regions held their founding meetings virtually in July, over the video-conferencing service Zoom.

Rocky Hill Library employees, members of UE Local 222 Sublocal 39, settled a new four-year contract in August. The contract provides for wage increases of 2.85 percent in the first year, 2.95 increase in the second year, 3 percent in the third year, and 3.25 percent in the last year.

Winning a first contract is hard enough in normal times, but for the almost 200 paraprofessionals of UE Local 119 it meant persevering through both an unprecedented pandemic and a nerve-wracking annual bidding process which their employer had to win in order for their contract to go into effect.

Branford paraprofessionals, members of Local 222 Sublocal 88, negotiated a new four-year agreement this spring which achieves a key goal they have been fighting for since they organized in 2011: a pay scale that provides automatic step increases. Each of their previous contracts made improvements but until this year they were unable to make the school committee agree to a pay scale and steps — something that all other school employees enjoyed.