Submitted by Adam Leader
Greenwich taxpayers deserve real legislative oversight of major municipal expenditures. Yet your Representative Town Meeting cannot – if it wanted to – meaningfully reject the proposed $444 million teachers’ contract because of flaws in Connecticut labor law.
The Problem
The Board of Education approved Greenwich’s largest-ever expenditure commitment after statutory arbitration began, but before both sides submitted evidence to the arbitrators. This exposed a loophole: it seems an RTM rejection would have no impact because the incomplete arbitration left no evidentiary record of last-and-final offers for state arbitrators or state court to review in subsequent proceedings.
The RTM also cannot yet access the data negotiators used during negotiations, mediation, and arbitration. The final arbitration award won’t be issued until as late as October 24th—possibly days before our October 27th meeting. Critical information including salary comparables from like towns remains sealed per state law and as of now is unavailable for RTM review.
Tuesday afternoon, the Labor Contracts Committee voted 5-0-0 to postpone Item 14 indefinitely. Speaking for myself, I’m frustrated. How can LCC fulfill its role to advise and educate the RTM without the availability of complete information? Why perform a review if it’s performative (rejection would have no actual impact)?
The Economic Impact
At the LCC meeting, Superintendent Dr. Toni Jones said that fiscal year 2027 “will be an extremely challenging budget between salary and transportation.” In my assessment, this contract’s cost increases exceed local inflation rates, likely forcing program and staffing changes to recur annually through FY29. Because of the costs, many elected officials’ hands will be largely tied before they are elected!
The contract’s wage increases are uneven: top-step teachers receive larger increases than early-career teachers—extra favorable for those with greatest job security. Budget pressures from those higher raises will fall hardest on newer teachers and student programs.
Unfortunately, everything so far is the best case scenario. The worst case to total town costs is this loophole is a new normal with other bargaining units, too, further eroding the RTM’s legislative authority under our home-rule charter.
The Solution
Connecticut law must be reformed to ensure:
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Municipal legislative bodies access all negotiator information before legislative committees meet and vote
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Arbitration cannot produce agreements immune from meaningful legislative review and rejection
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Adequate time is provided between final agreement filing and town legislative action
I urge Governor Ned Lamont and our state legislators—Senator Ryan Fazio and Representatives Hector Arzeno, Tina Courpas, and Stephen Meskers—to champion these reforms to support the Greenwich RTM.
Responsible fiscal oversight requires more than appearance of independent review. Our RTM town legislature deserves real authority, complete information, and adequate time for deliberation. Greenwich voters and taxpayers deserve nothing less.
Adam Leader, RTM district 11, RTM Labor Contracts Committee member
The views expressed are the author’s, not those of the LCC or RTM