CSEA ratifies contract
Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Civil Service Employees Association President Danny Donohue announced on Aug. 15 that the union”™s members had ratified a five-year labor contract with the state.
The contract, finalized in June and which runs through the 2015 fiscal year, had been pending ratification before it could take effect.
Under the contract, CSEA-represented state employees are guaranteed protection from layoffs for fiscal years 2011 and 2012, in exchange for accepting a three-year salary freeze and increased employee health care contributions, among other items.
“These are not ordinary times and CSEA worked hard to reach an agreement that we believed would be in everyone”™s best interest,” Donohue said in a statement. “CSEA members agree that this contract is reasonable and responsible for the long term.”
Base wages will remain constant for the 2011, 2012 and 2013 fiscal years, to be followed by 2 percent increases each year for the remainder of the contract. In addition, CSEA-represented employees who are grade 9 and below will see a 2 percent increase in employee health care contributions, while employees who are grade 10 and above will see a 6 percent increase.
Those adjustments, in addition to other health care reforms, will save the state $1.27 billion over the lifetime of the contract, according to information from the governor”™s office.
Nonna presses IDA for details
Westchester County legislator John Nonna, D-Pleasantville, on Aug. 15 called for increased transparency from the county Industrial Development Agency in light of questions surrounding the accuracy of job creation and retention numbers that were raised in a report by the state comptroller.
“It is crucial that this board be apprised on a prompt basis about what the IDA is doing and how it is faring in accomplishing its mission: to create jobs here in Westchester County,” said Nonna, chairman of the legislation committee of the county Board of Legislators.
The call for increased accountability followed the release of New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli”™s annual performance report on the state”™s industrial development agencies.
