Nassau labor not ready for union givebacks

County labor leaders said Thursday that they were confused but not cowed by threats from Nassau's top elected officials to order givebacks or layoffs if unions do not agree to voluntary concessions for next year.

"Everything we talked about was 2011," James Carver, president of the Police Benevolent Association, said of negotiations with County Executive Edward Mangano. "This is the first time I'm hearing about 2012. When the time is right, like in the past, we'll always sit down and talk."

Gary Learned, president of the Superior Officers Association, said he was always willing to talk about 2012 because a three-year union concession plan negotiated with the previous Democratic county administration ends this December. "That's the confusing part," Learned said. "What we said all along we would do, he [Mangano] said if we don't do he will reinstitute his legislation."

Calling it their "final warning to labor," Mangano, Presiding Officer Peter Schmitt and County Comptroller George Maragos, all Republicans, said Thursday the county legislature will hold hearings on Mangano's Taxpayer Relief Act if unions do not volunteer givebacks.

Mangano says the measure, proposed last fall, would permit him to open up existing contracts and order givebacks. Outside experts question the legality of the proposal while union leaders say it is unconstitutional and promise to sue if it is enacted.

Schmitt said he decided to hold hearings on the law this month or next after union leaders said recently they will not make further concessions this year while a state control board takeover looms.

The Nassau Interim Finance Authority has given Mangano until Jan. 20 to prove that his $2.6-billion budget is balanced or it could take control of the county's finances and freeze union contracts.

Mangano, Schmitt and Maragos insist the 2011 budget is balanced. They say they need union concessions to balance the budget in 2012 and the future.

Michael Adams, president of the Sheriff Officers Association, said, "all the unions have been standing by ready to assist the county. However, the county has not made some of its goals that it was important for unions to see before we could commit to any fiscal rescue plan. We're already under a fiscal rescue plan."

County unions had agreed to make concessions when former Democratic County Executive Thomas Suozzi agreed to institute a 2 percent tax on heating fuel. After Mangano repealed that tax, the unions said he needed to find a new recurring revenue source before they would make more concessions. They helped Mangano lobby in Albany for approval to increase the county sales tax by a quarter cent but the effort was not successful.