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How history repeats itself in NYS
5/12/2010
- Cheryl Felice
How history repeats itself in NYS…Let’s travel back to 1991 when our members were unilaterally furloughed
by then-County Executive Halpin.
As we predicted the unpaid and unilateral furloughs being thrust upon the NYS workers ended up in court before the ink was dry on Governor Paterson’s poorly thought-out order. As Newsday announced the approval of state furloughs today (May 11, 2010), the Associated Press also announced, “Unions file suit protesting furloughs” (May 11, 2010.) The Public Employees Federation and the Civil Service Employees Association unions, representing hundreds of thousands of white and blue collar state workers, are seeking a temporary restraining order (TRO) to block the unpaid furloughs approved by the state legislature the night of May 10th. The TRO will most likely fail, but the unions should win the battle that the furloughs violate labor contracts.
The key word of importance here where history will repeat itself is unilateral! Under the NYS Taylor Law, management is prohibited from acting unilaterally in mandatory issues of bargaining. Wages and hours worked are mandatory issues of bargaining. Back in 1991, when Suffolk County was facing a $100,000 deficit, County Executive Halpin announced that county departments would simply be shut down for ten (10) consecutive Fridays, with the workers losing one day’s pay per week, which resulted in a 20% pay cut - the same the state workers will now lose!
AME sprang into immediate action in 1991 and took the County Executive into court for a TRO like the one the state unions are now seeking. The judge sided with the County and rejected the TRO due to the notation that to be furloughed would not cause “irreparable harm” to the workers. The courts ruled that that lost wages could simply be “paid back” if the union prevailed in convincing the courts to uphold the union contract.
Well, after three weeks of unpaid Friday Furloughs, and simultaneous Friday demonstrations by 2,000+ AME members marching around the H. Lee Dennison Building, the furloughs ended when the union agreed to accept a 10-week lag payroll. The 1991 court action was eventually won in AME’s favor, but the legal (and costly) battle took the next four years to get our workers their back wages (albeit with 9% interest!).
What Governor Paterson is doing is failing to negotiate with his many public sector unions. His lack of adherence to the NYS Taylor will cost state taxpayers millions in back pay and costly legal fees, just as it did here in Suffolk in 1991.
We have lived through such a one-sided decision; and, even though some of our state legislators appear to have agreed to this economic debacle, it is still a 100% unilateral action by the Governor and one where history, without meaningful negotiations, will repeat and prevail on the side of the workers at an even higher cost to the taxpayer.
Let’s stay tuned.
Unity wins,
Cheryl A. Felice
President