Gov. Andrew Cuomo has just announced a tentative contract agreement with one of the state's smaller unions, including some potentially significant labor concessions that could set a pattern for achieving the $450 million in workforce savings assumed... Read More
Did someone say "mandate relief"? The Suffolk County Legislature is actually begging the state for another potentially costly collective bargaining mandate. Read More
Nassau County's Interim Finance Authority (NIFA) has imposed a wage freeze on county employees. The freeze, which will save at least $10 million this year, "is not only necessary but also a reasonable response to the county's fiscal distress," the authority said. Read More
In today's Times, Mayor Bloomberg says that state governments don't need to curtail bargaining rights for public workers' unions. Instead, states just need to bargain better -- and give localities the authority to bargain better, too -- to protect the... Read More
New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) has produced a new TV commercial blaming proposed state budget cuts on "tax breaks for millionaires." In fact, the proposed 2011-12 state budget includes $3.8 billion in projected revenue from the third and final year... Read More
New York's public-sector unions love to bash Wall Street, demanding punitive new taxes on investment banks as the solution to every fiscal problem. In fact, the financial sector "oligarchy" and the "new Tammany Hall" of the public-sector labor movement... Read More
Add the Bethlehem Central School District to the small, but growing, list of public entities taking action to bring spending in line with economic reality. Officials of the Albany area school district that they had implemented a voluntary sala Read More
The Post has a good editorial today on Mayor Bloomberg's plan to cut pension costs by taking away a "bonus" check from uniformed workers who have already retired: [W]hile the mayor has standing to ask for relief, the notion is fanciful... Read More