SYRACUSE — After three years, patience, standing strong, and utilizing our union’s resources finally resulted in a contract settlement for Onondaga County workers.
By more than a 2-1 margin, union members recently voted to approve a settlement offer providing partially retroactive wages for 2013-2015.
The settlement offer came in response to CSEA filing charges after county administration attempted to illegally impose a three-year agreement.
Onondaga County Local President Kathy Zabinski said CSEA filed charges to ensure union members decided the fate of their contract, not elected officials.
The overwhelming membership approval puts to rest this phase of a historically lengthy contract impasse, which included three membership votes rejecting contracts linking wage increases to significant health insurance increases. The recently approved offer contained no change to health costs.
“This was a win for our members, who stuck together to reject the county’s attempts to reduce wage increases with cost-shifts in health insurance,” Zabinski said. “When our legal actions forced them to bring back a wages-only offer, the majority of our members approved.”
Zabinski noted the three-year process relied heavily on many of CSEA’s in-house resources, including labor relations, communications, political action and legal staff.
“This was always a team effort, with our local, region and statewide union staff supporting us,” she said.
CSEA will soon return to the bargaining table for 2016 and beyond. Zabinksi said the union plans to build upon their momentum.
“We saw our members stick together proudly for what they believed during this difficult time,” she said. “We intend to unite even stronger as we move forward.”
— Mark M. Kotzin
