VALHALLA — When Westchester Community College Unit members and the college’s Board of Trustees finally ratified a contract after lengthy negotiations, the next step was for then-County Executive Rob Astorino to forward the deal to county legislators.
Instead, the deal sat collecting dust in Astorino’s office until he was ousted from office by George Latimer, who promptly fulfilled his pledge to forward the agreement to legislators once he took office in January. The deal passed unanimously.
“We are thrilled that our contract has been approved by legislators and the county executive,” said Unit President Carol Ann Zavarella-Vasta. “Our members are grateful and we hope to have an amicable working relationship with county government, which we have not had in the past.”
CSEA members at the college had been working without a contract since Dec. 31, 2011. Once CSEA and the college approved a deal, the unusual dual employer status of the college meant that legislators also had to approve the contract in addition to college trustees. Astorino put the brakes on the process when the memorandum of agreement was initially sent to his office for referral to legislators, which resulted in CSEA pursuing legal action via the state Public Employment Relations Board (PERB).
CSEA was still awaiting a PERB ruling when Latimer took office as county executive and sent the deal for approval. The agreement runs through August 2018, so it won’t be long before both parties are headed back to the table.
— Jessica Ladlee
