The city of White Plains is the latest example of how arbitration can produce bloated and unaffordable labor contracts.
The twist, in the case of White Plains, is that the unaffordable arbitration award reportedly was recommended by the city’s former mayor over the opposition of the city council.
In December 2008, the Common Council rejected tentative three-year contracts with police and firefighter unions, saying raises of 3.75 percent and 4 percent were too generous in a recession.
Then-Mayor Joseph Delfino and the unions moved to voluntary arbitration with Delfino offering unusual demands, according to the Journal News (here).
In the original fire union agreement, the city’s demands were that the union receive every benefit from the council-rejected contract, including the 3.75 percent and 4 percent raises, setting the minimum for what the union could receive uncharacteristically high. The police union agreement included no city demands.
The 2009 arbitration awards granted both unions two-year contracts with 3.75 and 4 percent raises. The newspaper reports the contracts cost the city $5.4 million. Richard Zuckerman, the city’s outside labor lawyer since 1985, learned about Delfino’s signed statements later in the arbitration process. In an email at the time, he said the city’s demands “appear more like those that should have been submitted by a union (rather) than an employer.”
For background on arbitration, see the Empire Center’s report Taylor Made: The Cost and Consequences of New York’s Public-Sector Labor Laws (here).
Originally Published: NY Public Payroll Watch
You may also like
Cuomo extends costly arbitration law
Three years ago, Governor Andrew Cuomo blew a rare opportunity to fundamentally reform one of the most costly provisions of the New York State law regulating public-sector collective bargaining.
Now he's about to blow it again. Read More
Meanwhile, on the mandate relief front
Governor Cuomo’s 2012-13 budget, to be presented later today, will command media attention for the rest of the week. Advance reports on his modified pension reform proposal are especially promising. Meanwhile, there’s a (fiscally) cost-free approach to helping local governments and school districts alleviate their budget problems: repealing the Triborough Amendment. Read More
Legislature rejects union arbitration cap
Governor Cuomo’s proposal to cap arbitration awards for police and firefighters is not included in the Senate or Assembly budget bills. This may be blessing in disguise: as argued here, Cuomo’s original proposal didn’t go nearly far enough. Since the arbitration law expires on June 30, the governor remains in a commanding position to demand more. Read More
Labor costs rose faster in public sector in ‘09
Employee compensation in the state and local government sector increased at twice the private-sector rate during the 12 months ending in December, according to national data released todayby the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Read More
Getting Triborough wrong
“Mandate relief remains elusive,” is one of the state-related headlines in today’s Albany Times Union — and that much, at least, is true. Unfortunately, the articlebeneath the headline repeats a familiar canard about the origins of the Triborough Amendment. Read More
Firefighters declare victory on binding arbitration
As argued in previous posts on this blog, Cuomo actually squandered a golden opportunity to deliver much more meaningful reform of the 39-year-old, repeatedly renewed but still temporary statute that has done much to drive police and firefighter compensation through the roof in New York. Read More
Cuomo’s arbitration carve-out
Thanks to a last-minute bill language tweak sought by police and firefighter unions, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s watered-down “reform” of New York’s compulsory arbitration law will not apply to a number of unsettled contracts that hadn’t even reached the arbitration stage before the law was extended just before the Legislature adjourned last month. Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) records now indicate that up to two dozen contract disputes may have been carved out of the new law (Ch. 67 of 2013), with the full impact ultimately depending on how many of these employers are considered fiscally distressed enough to otherwise qualify. Read More
Cuomo backpedals on binding arbitration
Governor Andrew Cuomo has pulled the teeth out of his original proposal to reform the binding arbitration law for police and fire contract disputes, squandering an opportunity to deliver on a key mandate relief priority for many municipalities.
Read More