CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - New Hampshire lawmakers voted to accept a report on state employee contracts that had been rejected by the governor.
The state’s Joint Committee on Employee Relations voted Monday to send the fact-finder’s report recommending workers get a 4% raise over two years to the full House and Senate.
The recommendation was released in November following a standstill between Republican Gov. Chris Sununu’s administration and seven bargaining units representing state workers, New Hampshire Public Radio reported.
House Speaker Steve Shurtleff, who chairs the committee, said state workers deserve better.
“Not to have the governor go forward and present this to the Executive Council, for an up or down vote, and to literally have a pocket veto by not bringing this topic up, is an injustice to our state workers,” Shurtleff said Monday.
The fact-finder’s report would normally be put to a vote by the Executive Council but Sununu has yet to put it on the council agenda. The delay resulted in an unfair labor practice being filed against the governor by the State Employees Association, the largest state workers union.
Ben Vihstadt, a spokesman for Sununu, called the committee’s decision “a PR stunt.”
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