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Newsday, Melville, N.Y., Joye Brown column: Uniting to solve woes
(Newsday (Melville, NY) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Feb. 10--The potential solution to Nassau's newest fiscal woe is not what happened in yesterday's crowded and very emotional hearing. It's what's happening, quietly, well out of the public eye.
Nassau's four largest unions are sitting down with Suozzi's office, and with an arbitrator, searching for a negotiated solution to this mess.
That's big news; and, potentially, the best news, for county residents. If they can find a solution, the county could be spared Draconian cuts. And that's a long way from where we were last week, when Suozzi rolled out a worst-case scenario that could mean closing parks and museums, including Old Bethpage Restoration and the African American Museum in Hempstead, and cutting off funding for virtually every outside social service agency.
The county executive, very publicly and in an effort to gain public support, asked the police, detectives, superior officers, correction officers and the civil service employees union to accept a permanent pay cut of 7 percent.
And he gave them a deadline of April 1 to accept or do nothing, in which case he would proceed with layoffs and a variety of other doomsday measures that likely would impact every man, woman and child in the county.
The unions don't have to reopen contracts, most of which went to arbitration and have unusually lengthy terms. Predictably, they blasted Suozzi's proposal, saying there was no way they would consider a pay cut.
They'd heard Suozzi's ultimatum, privately, in meetings a few days before he went public with the doomsday plan, and they refused to consider the pay cut.
And they were left seething when Suozzi called yet another news conference on Tuesday to outline cuts he would make in police services.
By Wednesday, Suozzi had asked the legislature to consider measures to lay off employees, shutter government offices for 26 days and impose sales taxes on home heating and other fuels. A vote on the lay offs was deferred but committees passed the other two measures.
By Thursday, James Carver, president of the police officers' union, had had enough.
"I wanted us to get a jump on that legislative meeting," he said yesterday.
So he called together the heads of the county's other unions -- including the adjunct faculty union at Nassau Community College -- for a meeting.
He also reached out to arbitrator Martin Scheinman, who over the years has refereed labor fights between the county and most of its unions.
The group bounced around a few ideas; and suggested Carver call Suozzi to set up a meeting.
And on Friday, representatives from all but two of the unions, along with Scheinman, met with Suozzi in his office.
"They came to me," Suozzi said of the unions yesterday. He and union officials said both sides are scheduled to meet three times in the next few weeks.
As a show of good faith, Suozzi yesterday asked the legislature to remove the layoff measure from the budget.
Carver and other union leaders thanked him during testimony before lawmakers.
But that hardly means the crisis is over.
Suozzi is holding firm on the 7 percent cut request. And make no mistake, if the unions compromise, it won't be to give Suozzi political leverage. They will do what they feel is best for their members. And in fact any compromise would have to be approved by their members. "We're not going to give him a surplus to boast about next year," said Carver, echoing the sentiments of CSEA president Jerry Larricchiuta.
Scheinman and the unions are putting forth a variety of other ideas.
"I'm always optimistic that we can get him the savings he needs," Carver said. "We're willing to work with him, but he's going to have to be ready to work with us, too."
It remains to be seen whether the sides can negotiate an agreement strong enough to hold off the cuts.
We'll know by April 1.
To see more of Newsday, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newsday.com
Copyright (c) 2009, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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