Hempstead Local President Charlie Sellitto.
HEMPSTEAD — A lawsuit filed against CSEA and former Hempstead Supervisor Anthony Santino potentially threatens the jobs of about 200 CSEA members.
The action, filed by newly elected town Supervisor Laura Gillen, seeks to nullify a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between Santino’s administration and CSEA, which guarantees that no town employees will be laid off for any reason other than misconduct or incompetence.
According to CSEA Hempstead Local Executive Board members, there were several personnel matters that had been held up until the end of the year and the Santino administration decided to put them through.
“There were 192 personnel actions on the town’s calendar and every one of them were of some benefit to CSEA members,” said CSEA Hempstead Local President Charlie Sellitto. “There were people that transferred from part-time to full-time, a number of people who received promotions after waiting on the civil service list, salary increases and transfers that put employees in more secure jobs.”
Now, all of these employees are at risk of losing what is contractually theirs as a result of Gillen’s lawsuit.
“Gillen campaigned under the guise of being the most labor-friendly supervisor we would ever see and she got the backing of our members because of it,” said Sellitto.
What’s particularly frustrating for the local is that Gillen said she would “never lay any of our people off.”
Despite that promise, town employees are now facing uncertainty for their jobs, particularly for 20 members that Gillen is specifically targeting for dismissal.
“She [Gillen] goes on TV claiming those employees are political operatives and cronies, but they’re not,” said Seliitto. “The 20 people she wants to get rid of are long-term 20, 25 and 30-year employees. These are people who worked their way up from the very bottom to better positions in the town. Should they lose their jobs?”
Hempstead Local officers are also concerned about what Gillen’s obvious intentions mean for our members.
“Why would [Gillen] spend the time, effort and money to prepare this lawsuit against us if she didn’t intend to lay people off?” said Sellitto.
Hempstead Local representatives are also displeased because they made a concerted effort to be fair to everyone in the MOA, including the incoming administration.
“We left enough room for Gillen to bring in executive staff and department heads who aren’t protected by the agreement,” said Sellitto. “I think we did a really good job for an administration that was new and that we had never worked with.”
Further demonstrating their ability to compromise, in December the local negotiated a 51-person retirement, through a provision that they signed with Santino, to help the town stay fiscally sound.
Knowing what they know now, the Hempstead Local board suspects that Gillen had no intentions of negotiating in good faith.
“She [Gillen] has only been in office a few months, and this is a 36-page document,” said Sellitto. “She would have to be working on a document this size for months.”
“So, while she’s making nice-nice with us at the table, she’s also conspiring with her attorneys to sue us and everybody else,” said Sellitto.
As far as the Hempstead Local is concerned, the agreement is binding.
“Santino was the town supervisor for two months after elections. He still had the power to run government,” said Sellitto. “He didn’t do anything unilaterally, everything a supervisor wants done has to go before the town board for a vote. There was a split decision and some debates, but ultimately, we were able to save the bulk of our members from layoffs with this agreement.”
— Wendi Bowie
