A labor union representing 300 Westchester Community College employees has filed a complaint with the state that claims the county did not negotiate in good faith during contract negotiations last fall.
A memorandum of agreement between the college and the workers represented by Local 1000 of the Civil Services Employees Association was rejected by Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino in November. In a complaint filed in January, CSEA claims the “failure of (Astorino) to approve and refer” the memorandum of agreement between the CSEA membership and the WCC board of trustees constitutes bad faith bargaining under the Taylor Law.
The Taylor Law, also known as the Public Employees”™ Fair Employment Act, sets the rules for municipalities when bargaining with civil service or teacher unions. It also authorizes a governor-appointed state Public Employment Relations Board to resolve contract disputes.
The agreement between the college”™s Board of Trustees and its CSEA membership, which would have run through 2018, would have given members backdated pay increases from 2012 of 7 percent. Health care contributions would have been set between 4 and 8 percent beginning in 2016 and 10 to 15 percent for new hires.
Astorino said at the time that he opposed the deal because it would add $36 million to the bills of that year”™s taxpayers. Astorino also said the deal could lead to increased tuition.
“At a time when taxpayers and students are both struggling, this kind of deal cannot be justified,” Astorino said in November.
The CSEA Westchester Community College unit negotiates with dual employers, the college”™s board of trustees and the county”™s Board of Legislators. Any deal must be ratified by both.
“The board of trustees voted in favor of the MOA (memorandum of agreement), as did our members,” said Jessica Ladlee, CSEA spokesperson for the Mid-Hudson Valley. “What”™s transpired is highly unusual and in violation of the Taylor Law.”
The complaint says that the negotiator for the county legislators and college trustees never made clear that “the county executive did not support the memorandum of agreement … nor did the chief negotiator state that he did not have authority of the county to enter into the agreement.”
In a statement on April 6, Phil Oliva, a spokesperson for Astorino, argued against the claim that Astorino bargained in bad faith.
“Our office had no knowledge of the negotiations and we weren”™t involved in them so there could never be any ”˜bad faith bargaining,”™” Oliva said. “The county executive did reject the proposed labor contract that was presented to him after WCC negotiated the terms, because it granted millions of dollars in retroactive pay increases to employees for years they were receiving millions of dollars in free health care. The plan was simply unaffordable and unfair to taxpayers and to students.”
The Westchester Board of Legislators voted April 4 to allow the WCC board of trustees to hire private representation in the matter and any related proceedings. The trustees got approval from the board of legislators to hire White Plains law firm Keane & Beane P.C. for an amount not to exceed $50,000.
