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First Negotiation Session
3/26/2010 9:30:00 AM
- Cheryl A. Felice
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 26, 2009
Bohemia, NY- Suffolk County Association of Municipal Employees (AME) held its first negotiation session with management today, March 26, 2010. Cheryl Felice, AME President, stated, "I am well aware, as is our Negotiating Team, that these negotiations will not be easy. We are bargaining against a formidable foe and have to contend with an uncertain economy; however, we are prepared - our team having met over a dozen times this past year. We are ready."
Steve Levy's announcement last week of his switch to the Republican Party, to run in the upcoming New York State gubernatorial race, did not come as a surprise to the AME Executive Board. First VP Josephine Passantino, a 17-year county employee and head of the SCCC White Collar unit, stated, "We had been discussing this same scenario for the last year. We know how reckless and ambitious Levy is and speculated on its impact to our members. Frankly, Levy has an uphill battle to climb if he wants to win as governor. He has lost the confidence of labor and, unfortunately, still views us negatively when he refers to organized labor disparagingly and calls us all "special interests." Well, if you want to call the nationwide movement that built this great country a condescending slur, insinuating that labor is the destruction and not the savior during these arduous times, we should look to see what interests Levy does believe in -- and more importantly, who has been contributing to his campaign."
Brian Kelly, 3rd VP, and Blue Collar representative on the Board, himself a former union president of Local 2759 of the International Association of Machinist and Aerospace Workers, stated, "We are ready, willing, and able to meet the challenges that are in front of us. I know it’s going to get ugly as Levy doesn't think he needs any of us. But we know better! Without AME, this county would fall apart! I, together with my brothers and sisters at AME, welcome the chance to battle it out at the negotiations table. It may get down and dirty; but as a blue collar guy - we're used to cleaning up the mess! "Fair and equitable" – that’s all we're looking for - no more, no less - just fair and equitable - for all of AME's 7,000 members."
Felice added, "AME has the best equipped negotiating team I've ever seen. We are all thoroughly prepared for what lies ahead. We know that we are in the most challenging of economic times; however, that should not deter the county from treating its employees with dignity and respect -- and the way to demonstrate that is by good-faith bargaining. We will accept no less than the county's sincerest effort for every AME member!” Felice concluded.
The Suffolk County Association of Municipal Employees is the labor union for the 8,500 active and retired Suffolk County employees.
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