Ending the DOT's "Culture of Fear"

Ending the DOT's "Culture of Fear"

The Leadership and Vision to Move Connecticut Forward

Stephen Livingston at 10 NASHTU Conf
P-4 Council Member Stephen Livingston Presented Our Union's "Attacks on Public Sector Workers in Connecticut – A Case Study" to Reform Allies in NASHTU in April

When Governor M. Jodi Rell announced the formation of a blue-ribbon commission to bring an end what the press had begun to call the Department of Transportation's "culture of corruption," our members called for including at least one long-standing department employee in our union to the panel.

Our members have consistently called for more effective, competent leadership as the real reform the agency needs. Our message remained consistent, and we turned-up the volume when the Governor proposed dissolving the DOT and replacing it with two separate bureaucracies in 2008.

We succeeded in blocking this short-sighted proposal, and made brought real change to the agency in late-2008 when we negotiated a historic agreement that should go a long way to reduce the DOT's dependence on costly contractors.

For three years in a row, our Union has been asked to share our successes with our allies in the National Association of State Highway and Transportation Unions (NASHTU). An update with our presentation and complete report on efforts at the 2010 gathering are posted below.

As they have at previous conferences, our members reached out to Connecticut's congressional delegation to build collaborative partnerships in securing resources for vital transportation projects. Staff from all but Representative John Larson's office took time to meet with our members while in Washington to gain their "frontline" perspective.