With state revenues crashing and joblessness skyrocketing, more than a third of the New York state government workforce is scheduled to get a 2 percent pay raise in less than a week.
Under current union contracts, about 65,000 state workers represented by the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), as well as more than 20,000 corrections officers and other smaller employee categories, will see their pay rise effective April 1. For many, these base pay hikes will be compounded by seniority-based raises prescribed by the “step” schedules common in civil service titles.
This is an installment in a special series of #NYCoronavirus blog posts by Empire Center analysts, focused on New York’s state and local policy response to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Two percent pay hikes are also scheduled for other state workers, including 30,000 SUNY employees who will get 2 percent raises in July, and more than 20,000 City University of New York (CUNY) faculty due for raises in November. The remaining one-third of state workers, including agency police officers, corrections supervisors, and about 52,000 white-collar workers represented by the Public Employees Federation, are working under expired contracts. State worker unions have generally sought, and won, retroactive pay raises matching those given to other unions.
These raises will cost a total of $359 million to annual state budget expenses at a time when Budget Director Robert Mujica says state tax receipts are poised to fall by as much as $15 billion due to economic disruption caused by the coronavirus emergency.
As E.J. McMahon noted in this space last week, a statutory freeze on all public-sector pay raises would help minimize layoffs at government agencies. If such a freeze was enacted as part of the forthcoming state budget, it would save roughly $1.5 billion for all other levels of government, bringing the total savings to $1.9 billion.
But if the pay raise goes forward on schedule, a costly business-as-usual precedent will be set for all unionized workers at every level of government. The higher pay will be baked into the budgetary base at a time when the national economy is plunging into uncharted waters of an economic recession that could deepen into the first broad depression since the 1930s.
About the Author
You may also like
New York lawmakers have sought to weaken police discipline
In the wake of George Floyd's death under a kneeling Minneapolis police officer, some New York State lawmakers are renewing calls for legislation designed to uncover police disciplinary records. But less than a year ago, state senators in both parties voted in favor of union-backed legislation that would make it harder to fire New York police officers credibly accused of using excessive force or other offenses. Read More
Ball of Confusion: New York’s Upcoming School Budget Votes Reshaped by Cuomo Order
As if the coronavirus hadn’t done enough to disrupt education in New York, Governor Cuomo has injected even more confusion and uncertainty into the public school budgeting and board selection process across the state. Read More
New York’s job losses were among the nation’s worst during April lockdowns
All but a few states imposed business lockdowns and "stay at home" orders in April. However, New York's private-sector job losses were well beyond the national norm—indicating the Empire State's economic recovery could lag behind the rest of the country Read More
NY’s job base is wrecked
It's official: the viral lockdown has been an economic catastrophe of historic proportions for New York State. Read More
Cuomo looks outside to track virus
New York State is deploying several thousand contact tracers, workers tasked with interviewing COVID-stricken residents and notifying the people they may have infected. But Governor Andrew Cuomo is taking a notable step that will likely make the effort faster and more efficient: he’s having someone else do the hiring. Read More
Hospitalization rising in some areas
Coronavirus hospitalizations are surging in parts of upstate, including three regions that the Cuomo administration authorized to begin reopening today. Read More
Uneven ‘relief’ for NY providers
A review of federal emergency payments to New York health-care providers reveals a striking disparity: Four of Manhattan's most prosperous private hospitals collected more individually than the 11 city-owned hospitals combined. Read More
Teachers work hard to stop working
New York’s statewide teachers union is exploiting a lack of direction from Governor Andrew Cuomo to force an early end to the school year. Read More