2nd largest NY union ratifies pay freeze

Members of the second-largest state employees union ratified a revised four-year contract Thursday, staving off nearly 3,500 layoffs.

The labor agreement was approved by 70 percent of the 39,363 New York State Public Employees Federation members who cast votes. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who had ordered the layoffs after union members initially rejected a deal in September, Thursday rescinded the order.

"This shows that collaboration works," Cuomo said at a news conference after the vote. He drew a contrast between New York's labor negotiations and those in other parts of the country that have been more contentious. "This is slowing people down, providing the information, removing the emotion and cooler heads prevailing for a better outcome for all."

The approved contract includes three years of salary freezes, a 2 percent raise in the fourth year, nine pay-deferred furlough days and increased employee health care costs.

The first vote, which was on a five-year contract, was a rare rebuke to the governor when 54 percent of those who voted rejected it. Cuomo initially refused to budge on renegotiations, urging the 56,000-member union to adopt the contract. But he later said he was open to tweaks to the contract as long as it produced the same savings -- $75 million in the first year. Union negotiators and the governor's office agreed on the revisions on Oct. 15. Union leadership approved the contract the next day and sent out ballots to members that were due by Thursday.

PEF vice president and contract chairman Tom Comanzo said at a news conference that one reason the pact passed this time was that the layoffs were no longer an abstraction.

"The 3,496 members that were going to be laid off effective [Friday] was a very real figure," Comanzo said. "We have names and faces and agencies and work locations to put with that number, and I think that helped make a difference."

Comanzo said he was confident that an agreement giving the union the right to go to arbitration over future proposed layoffs would protect members throughout this contract and that the 2.5 percent reductions to state agency spending announced this week would not affect them.

One major change from the old contract was that workers will be reimbursed for their furlough days so that they won't affect final average salaries, which are used to calculate pensions. Employees will be reimbursed for all furlough days during the fourth year of the contract, or sooner if they leave state service.

Cuomo called the resolution part of a "monumental undertaking" to cut spending in a difficult economic environment, including $450 million in state labor costs in the current fiscal year. The state's largest union, the Civil Service Employees Association, approved a similar contract in August.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) said that the "vote shows that the leadership of PEF and its members appreciate that shared sacrifice is necessary in order to ensure the security of working families and the continuation of vital services."