One of New York's smaller state government unions has just rejected a tentative contract that featured major concessions necessary to achieve Gov. Andrew Cuomo's savings target for the new fiscal year. It's a big setback for Cuomo -- not so much financially as symbolically.
The vote by members of Law Enforcement Council 82 was lopsided -- 245 for, to 675 against.
The vote by members of Law Enforcement Council 82 was lopsided -- 245 for, to 675 against.
As the Albany Times Union noted, "While the fact that a labor contract wasn't ratified isn't unusual, this may mark the first time since he was elected that Gov. Andrew Cuomo has had someone definitively say 'no' to him, or at least [to] his team."
Kay elements of the proposed Council 82 agreement -- covering park police, environmental conservation officers and State University police -- included an increase in employee share of health insurance premiums and an end to automatic longevity step increases. If the union had ratified the contract, and if it had subsequently become the pattern for all state workers, it could have been a blueprint for achieving the $450 million in workforce savings assumed in Cuomo's first budget.
The 1,160-member Council 82 is now facing a certification challenge by dissident members who want to reorganize under another union banner. The state government's largest unions -- Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Local 1000 and the Public Employees Federation (PEF) -- are still in negotiations. Unless the governor can persuaded them to accept a deal generating savings equivalent to the abortive Council 82 pact, he'll need to pull the trigger on the 9,800 layoffs that he has suggested as his only alternative. And with the state approaching the halfway mark of its first fiscal quarter, he'll need to do it very soon.
Meanwhile, Connecticut's Gov. Daniel Molloy is seeking larger union givebacks ($2 billion over two years, out of a much smaller budget than New York's). To show he means business, Molloy just began issuing the first of 4,742 layoff notices to state workers.
Kay elements of the proposed Council 82 agreement -- covering park police, environmental conservation officers and State University police -- included an increase in employee share of health insurance premiums and an end to automatic longevity step increases. If the union had ratified the contract, and if it had subsequently become the pattern for all state workers, it could have been a blueprint for achieving the $450 million in workforce savings assumed in Cuomo's first budget.
The 1,160-member Council 82 is now facing a certification challenge by dissident members who want to reorganize under another union banner. The state government's largest unions -- Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Local 1000 and the Public Employees Federation (PEF) -- are still in negotiations. Unless the governor can persuaded them to accept a deal generating savings equivalent to the abortive Council 82 pact, he'll need to pull the trigger on the 9,800 layoffs that he has suggested as his only alternative. And with the state approaching the halfway mark of its first fiscal quarter, he'll need to do it very soon.
Meanwhile, Connecticut's Gov. Daniel Molloy is seeking larger union givebacks ($2 billion over two years, out of a much smaller budget than New York's). To show he means business, Molloy just began issuing the first of 4,742 layoff notices to state workers.
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