Page 2 - Work Force June 2016

Photo of the Month
Monroe County Unit declares impasse in contract talks
Photo courtesy of NYSUT
From left, CSEA Statewide Treasurer Bill Walsh, New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) Vice President Paul Pecorale, state Assemblymember Patricia Fahy, CSEA Capital Region President Ron Briggs, NYSUT President Karen Magee, and North Colonie Teachers Association President Scott Dolan show their support of striking Verizon Wireless workers outside a Latham Verizon Wireless store. Every CSEA local and unit is asked to “adopt” a Verizon store in their area and picket that location for a couple of hours each week after work.
ROCHESTER — CSEA’s Monroe County Unit recently declared impasse in its contract negotiations with county officials.
Impasse was declared with the state Public Employment Relations Board. Our union’s negotiating team polled members and determined that a final contract could not be reached without assistance from a mediator.
We hope the intervention of a neutral third party will be able to break the county’s refusal to negotiate in good faith and bring both sides to a fair and equitable agreement.
CSEA’s collective bargaining agreement with Monroe County expired on Dec. 31, 2013 at midnight. Our Monroe County Unit represents nearly 1,700 county employees.
County officials have refused to honor its meeting requirements and have told workers that their position on contract details have not changed since former county Executive Maggie Brooks left office at the end of 2015 after opting not to run for re-election.
While the most recent negotiation meeting was scheduled for March
21, union leaders got a call on March 17 only to find out county officials unilaterally canceled the meeting with no just cause. Currently, one out of eight full-time bargaining units has
a valid negotiated contract with the county.
“We are very disappointed that the county chose not to meet with us,” said Monroe County Unit President Jim D’Amico. “County officials
and their outsourced law firm are dictating, not negotiating, a fair and equitable deal.”
In the past eight years, county workers have received a 2 percent cost of living adjustment, well below the threshold for the consumer price index and rates of inflation, while some top county management officials have garnered a 21 percent wage increase.
“In our last contract, workers made big concessions and got nothing in return. Morale is at an all-time
low,” D’Amico said. “However, we
are ready, willing and able to get
back to the table and hammer out a fair contract. Unfortunately, in my opinion the county is more concerned about keeping an outsourced law
firm on retainer than making sure county workers have the support
and resources necessary to deliver the high-quality services our county residents have come to know, love and respect. Our members decided that impasse was the best course of action.”
— Ove Overmyer
ALERT
CSEA President Danny Donohue to meet Capital Region members on June 21
President Danny Donohue will visit the CSEA Capital Region on Tuesday, June 21, to meet with members. The meetings will be held at the CSEA Capital Region Office, 1 Lear Jet Lane, Latham. Donohue will meet with union members from 1 to 7 p.m. Please call the region office at: 1-518-782-4400 for an appointment and directions.
NEW YORK’S LEADING UNION
New county 911 agreement boosts staffing, training
Official publication of
CSEA Local 1000, AFSCME, AFL-CIO 143 Washington Ave. Albany, NY 12210-2303 Danny Donohue, President
The Work Force (USPS 0445-010)
is published monthly by
The CSEA Publication Office:
143 Washington Ave., Albany, NY 12210. Periodical Mail Postage paid at
Post Office,
Albany, New York 12288,
and additional mailing offices.
Postmaster: Send address changes to: CSEA, Attn: Membership Department,
143 Washington Ave., Albany, NY 12210
2 The Work Force
MINEOLA — After seven years of fighting for proper training and staffing levels, Nassau County Dispatcher Unit members finally have a contract that gives them some relief from being overworked and under-trained.
Among the contract’s most important points is a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will include minimum staffing for each shift and will go a long way toward relieving understaffing. CSEA’s 911 Dispatcher unit is the only CSEA unit to have
an agreement of that kind. The new contract will also ensure dispatchers not only get the lifesaving training they need, but that the union has an active role in the training.
“I’m really proud of Jerry (Laricchiuta, Nassau County Local
president) and this local for (this contract). They really stuck to their guns and didn’t concede,” said Gary Volpe, the local’s Communications Bureau Unit president. “Because minimum staffing is in our Memorandum of Understanding, we have the golden key. That language is in there for life.”
It is crucial to have adequate 911 resources for Nassau County, which has more than 1.3 million residents as of 2013 and receives more than
1 million calls every year. Those resources didn’t come without a fight.
In 2010, the county had 190 dispatchers. After six years of county cutbacks, staffing totals bottomed out at 141 dispatchers.
The years of dispatcher budget
cuts — at the expense of public safety — caused an outcry from county residents, some of whom spoke with local media about their concerns after two well-publicized incidents with callers who lacked a timely response.
While a return to the 2010 staffing numbers is not expected for some time because of the time it takes to hire and train dispatchers, the union negotiated into the agreement an immediate requirement for two extra dispatchers on each shift.
“It has really helped with morale,” said Susan Chodkowski, the local’s Communications Bureau Unit representative. “There’s a better feeling amongst the staff. They feel like they can finally take a breath.”
— Wendi Bowie
June 2016