We remain puzzled over why unions representing state workers are still opposed to the governor”™s furlough plan.
Isn”™t it better to lose some pay and have a job than to lose a job and have no pay? And at the same time you”™re helping the state from freefalling into insolvency.
Gov. David Paterson cannot figure out why he”™s being stiff-armed by unions whose main role is to negotiate.
Barring the passage and enactment of a budget, he said last week that he would authorize state employee furloughs in his next round of proposed emergency appropriations bills.
“I have repeatedly called upon the state public employee unions to work with me to achieve critical work force savings. Because unions have not accepted any proposals to achieve necessary savings, I am left with no other choice but to move forward with this plan. I do not take this action lightly, but it is necessary given the unions”™ unwillingness to make any sacrifices and I will do whatever is necessary to protect New York”™s finances.”
Please note those key words: “work with me” and “sacrifice.”
Apparently they are not contained in any union”™s playbook.
They once were, however.
They were also part of the state Legislature”™s as well.
Back in 1975, Democrat worked with Republican as well as with unions and with bankers.
What a mind-boggling alliance.
And it was all for the common good; keeping New York City from dropping dead as President Ford had suggested.
Back in the summer of 1975, Fun City was anything but. It was on the edge of bankruptcy. If it was going to fall it was going to take the rest of the state with it.
The city had several billion dollars in debt thanks to the Urban Development Corp., which issued municipal bonds. It had defaulted on its general obligation bonds. This led to banks and private capital markets denying access to the city as well as the entire state.
Thousands of union jobs were on the line, from sanitation workers to teachers.
City lawmakers offered up traditional fallbacks such as tax anticipation notes and revenue anticipation notes as a means to stave off the inevitable.
Some gutsy leadership and smart thinking was needed. That”™s where Gov. Hugh Carey stepped in.
The Democratic governor reached out to Republican Senate leader Warren Anderson, Wall Street financier Felix Rohatyn and Victor Gotbaum, executive director of District Council 37 of the AFL-CIO and the chief spokesman of the city”™s municipal unions.
They created an extraordinary blueprint that resolved the crisis by working without the partisan walls that normally are raised during negotiations.
The holdout union was the United Federation of Teachers, which was brought into the fold by the work of Jack Bigel, a labor adviser and financial planner.
In the end, the Municipal Assistance Corp. was created and union retirement funds bought city debts.
Also very importantly, most of the union workers deferred a 6 percent wage increase.
Today, the entire state is at risk.
The governor”™s call for a union concession was met by derision.
Paterson said state agency commissioners would be given the discretion to schedule one furlough day for each of their employees during the week of May 17.
He called it a “collective sacrifice.” It would save the state about $30 million each week the furloughs are in force.
But this isn”™t 1975.
The difference between Carey in 1975 and the governor today is that Paterson is not just a lame duck, he is persona non grata.
The difference between today and 1975 is that there was trust in 1975; something that doesn”™t exist today between the same entities.
Another thing different between now and then is the lobbying power of the deep-pocketed unions. Last year, the Civil Service Employees Political Action Fund lobbied a total of 1,441 Senate and Assembly bills.
Unions are far from cash poor.
So why not concede on the furloughs?
Teachers in the Pelham school district recognize the problems facing the state and in turn the residents who must ante up to pay their salaries.
For the 2010-11 school year, Pelham teachers reduced their agreed-to pay raises of 3.5 percent and 3.8 percent to 2.98 percent. Some $800,000 in savings are expected over the next two years.
If they can do it in Pelham, why not statewide?
Let”™s not make “sacrifice,” “gutsy leadership,” “unions and concessions” just words in the history books.
Remember the Alamo! Remember the Maine! Remember 1975!
