James Maroney

After Years With No Raises, Deputy Prison Wardens Finally Win Arbitrated Pay Hike

HARTFORD – State Senator James Maroney (D-Milford) joined the State Senate today in approving a binding arbitration award that will give small pay raises to 34 deputy prison wardens after they went six of the past nine years with no wage increase and actually saw a reduction in their real wages.

The Senate voted 20-14 today to approve an arbitrated award with the Counsel of Correctional Supervisors Chapter, CSEA, SEIU Local 2001. The arbitration award, which sets the salaries for 34 deputy prison wardens in the CSEA, NP-8 Correctional Supervisors Bargaining Unit, was determined by a neutral third party. The current average salary for a deputy warden is $103,130.

“The annual 2.8 percent wage increase for deputy prison wardens, who risk their personal safety each day on the job, will get them caught up with inflation as six of the past nine years they had no wage increase,” said Sen. Maroney.

Included in the arbitration award is a $2,000 lump sum payment this year and a 3.5% wage increase in both 2020 and 2021. The wardens are also eligible for – but not guaranteed – an additional 1% pay increase through the Performance Assessment & Recognition System (PARS).

For comparison, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average yearly private-sector wage in Connecticut increased 11.4% from 2010 to 2017. Over the past year, according to the most recent state Department of Labor report, private-sector weekly pay in Connecticut has increased 3.4%.

Between Fiscal Year 2010 and Fiscal Year 2018, the deputy wardens received no wage increase in six of those nine years (3% wage hikes were awarded in 2014 and 2015). However, the deputy wardens shared in all the 2017 SEBAC concessions, including contributing an additional 2% of their pay to their pension contributions.

Overall, the 2017 SEBAC changes are expected to provide approximately $24 billion in savings to Connecticut taxpayers over the next 20 years through a combination of wage freezes, furlough days, and pension and healthcare changes. Through the SEBAC changes, Connecticut state employees saw increased healthcare co-payments and premiums, new restrictions on health insurance, increased pension contributions, and increased contributions towards retirement health care benefits.

Below is a year-by-year breakdown of wage and benefit changes for the deputy wardens: