BRIDGEPORT -- Municipal supervisors who were not allowed time off to mourn former President Jimmy Carter's death have struck a deal with the city settling a labor dispute over that and three other new federal holidays.
"We are genuinely thrilled," Edward Gavin, the 165-person union's attorney, said of the settlement struck recently with Mayor Joe Ganim's administration.
Gavin's members are not getting the $600,000 in total back wages originally sought, but instead now have five extra personal days to use any time.
"Basically you get a free week's vacation," Gavin said.
And the department heads' and other managers' collective bargaining agreement was also amended to increase the amount of weeks of unused vacation time they can cash out annually from two to three.
But the city obtained something as well: a contractual language change to avoid this issue in the future.
The labor dispute stemmed from the fact the supervisors' contract, struck in 2023, provides 13 standard paid holidays but specifies members can also stay home on "any holiday officially proclaimed as such by the President of the United States of America, or by the Governor of the State of Connecticut, or by the Mayor of the City."
Those "ors" were key to Gavin's case.
Late last year he filed a complaint with the Connecticut Department of Labor, claiming the Ganim administration ignored two new federal days off declared by former Democratic President Joseph Biden -- Christmas Eve 2024 and Jan. 9, 2025, when Carter's funeral was held -- plus last Dec. 24 and Dec. 26, holidays set aside by current Republican President Donald Trump.
In contrast, for example, Gov. Ned Lamont issued an executive order for state agencies and offices, public schools and higher education institutions, and municipal governments to observe a minute of silence for Carter on Jan. 9, 2025.
On May 1, the two sides finalized a memorandum of understanding detailing the settlement terms. The case was formally withdrawn May 4 at the start of a previously scheduled hearing on the matter before the state labor relations board.
The memorandum acknowledges the city's argument that most other Bridgeport municipal unions do not enjoy the perk of taking off holidays declared only by a U.S. president. Subsequently the union agreed to a language change striking the "ors" from its collective bargaining pact and specifying that Connecticut's governor "and" the city's mayor must be in concurrence when it comes to establishing new days off.
Gavin acknowledged, "It doesn't really make much common sense to have supervisors be able to take vacation days when people that are supervised are not."
Thomas Gaudett, Ganim's chief administrative officer, said, "We didn't want a situation where on, let's say Christmas Eve, the supervisors and city leadership get to be home with their families while the rest of the workforce is working."
"That would be horrible for morale," Gaudett continued. "We're going to stick with enumerated holidays unless in very rare situations all levels of government recognize a new holiday."
As for the other contract amendment that Gavin and the supervisors secured allowing managers to get paid out for a third week of unused vacation, Gaudett described it as a practical change.
"We have some managers and department leaders who, because they're just so busy and dedicated, they don't use up their vacation time," he explained. "So they lose their time. ... There are many circumstances under which they are really needed and don't want to take it. This provision recognizes that."