Cuomo watch: Loophole in arbitration law?

Although Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo touted a binding arbitration law as helpful to communities in distress, a new report says it has big loopholes.

The law allows police and firefighter unions to go to arbitration during contract disputes. Cuomo and lawmakers renewed the law last month, but added a provision that says arbiters must consider certain communities' "ability to pay" when determining contracts.

But a last-minute change exempted any union that had declared a contract impasse after April 1. According to the Empire Center, this covers 23 bargaining units around New York, including Rockville Centre police and Suffolk County's correction officers, detectives and detective investigators.-- Yancey Roy