State employee unions respond to Lamont's coronavirus mandate

Oct. 5—State employees' unions are asking Gov. Ned Lamont to soften his vaccination or testing mandate.

Following comments from Lamont on Monday, when he dismissed SEBAC's request for a 20-day extension on the mandate and allowing "a temporary process of testing in lieu of vaccinate at some workplaces," the coalition of unions responded in a news conference Tuesday.

Union members and employees affected by the mandate held the conference to "sound the alarm" on unsafe staffing levels in state agencies, according to Carl Chisem, president of Connecticut Employee Union Independent, Local 511. They argued that Lamont's mandate would exacerbate understaffing.

Trung Le, a registered nurse and former employee of UConn Health, said he moved to the private sector because of unsafe staffing levels, which existed before the COVID-19 pandemic but became more prominent because of it. Le and several other workers bemoaned an uptick in 16-hour workdays three or four days in a row with minimal sleep in between.

"This is affecting patient care and patient safety," Le said.

Sherine Bailey, a state correction officer, also said the double-shift workdays multiple times a week are "not sustainable." She said state prison staff are holding up their end of the bargain by getting vaccinated.

"We as staff want to have the safest working conditions possible in the state prisons, not just for us, but also for the offender population," she said. "There is currently a shortfall of 400 front-liners throughout our state, and another 400 are expected to retire in 2022. This is not a new development. We've been way understaffed since before the vaccine mandate came into effect."

Gloria Valentina, a nurse with UConn Health'sJohn Dempsey Hospital, said she loves her profession, "but my profession needs help." She said her hospital isn't held accountable for overworking its staff to make up for a lack of workers.

Brian Williams, an addiction counselor at Connecticut Valley Hospital, said the opioid crisis has gotten worse since the coronavirus pandemic, and yet the hospital is treating fewer people because of a lack of staff.

Rob Baril, president of Service Employees International Union 1999 New England, said that as of March 2020, the union had counted 1,500 vacancies in state health care facilities. Since then, there's been an additional 536 vacancies, he said.

He said workers are "burned out, they are exhausted, they are frustrated, they understand that their own health has been compromised, that outcomes for their patients and clients have been compromised."

"What we requested was an extension that would've allowed a three-week period with weekly testing of staff for folks to be able to work out through the union an arrangement that would make sense so that we don't move to that crisis place," he continued. "We are asking for solutions that are not just to the immediate issues of the mandate for vaccination but also to do with the longstanding challenges, which have only been exacerbated in the last year and a half."

Chisem and Williams both pushed back on the governor's comments on Monday, when he attributed issues with notifying the state of compliance with the mandate mostly to human error. Williams and Chisem said the state's infrastructure has been difficult to navigate.

"You can upload information via app, via email or via fax. There are several members who have used the fax and email option available to them, and they've been given notice that they're out of compliance," Williams said. "I think it is inaccurate to say that it is only an issue of individuals' human error, I think a lot of it is systemic."

Chisem said SEBAC still is negotiating with the governor regarding the details of the mandate.

As of noon Tuesday, according to numbers from the governor's office, about 23,600, or 78%, Executive Branch employees reported being fully vaccinated, while around 5,500, or 18%, opted for weekly testing and 1,200, or 4%, were noncompliant and had not yet submitted the necessary documentation.

"State human resources officials are currently in the process of contacting each employee still identified as being non-compliant to determine the reason why they have not yet submitted their required documentation and to correct any potential errors for those whose attempts to respond were not accurately recorded by the system," a Tuesday news release from the governor's office reads. "In their responses, more than 1,700 employees indicated that they got vaccinated in the days following the governor's August 19 announcement that they would either need to be vaccinated or receive weekly testing."

The statement doubled down on Lamont's Monday statement that he does not expect to activate the state National Guard to respond to staffing shortages.

The Judicial and Legislative branches are not compelled by the governor's order but will be following it. According to Rhonda Stearling-Hebert, as of Monday, more than 95% of the 3,700 Judicial Branch workers were in compliance with the vaccine or testing mandate.

Jim Tamburro, head of the Office of Legislative Management, said last week that although Lamont's executive order applies only to Executive Branch employees, the Legislative Branch will be implementing the same mandate at some point in October.

s.spinella@theday.com

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