Steven Perruccio, president of the Connecticut Employees Union Independent, which represents 7,000 state workers, has been on paid leave from his job as a storage supervisor for the Department of Administrative Services for six years. He collects $28,000 for the state job as well as $58,000 for his union post, and the union reimburses the state for half of the state salary.

Perruccio says the leave of absence was the state's idea and that it actually saves money. Before the leave, he says, he would simply take time off from his job "for union business." Three other union officials have similar arrangements, and two of them receive small union stipends.

State officials had previously denounced the arrangement as "morally reprehensible and unethical," but efforts to change it were unsuccessful. Commenting on the arrangement, Peter Allen, manager of the Connecticut Office of Labor Relations, is somewhat stoical: "It's part of a labor agreement. It doesn't matter what I think."

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