Glen Cove workers protest lack of contract

Several dozen Glen Cove city workers packed Tuesday night’s council meeting to protest their continued lack of a new union contract.

The Civil Service Employees Association members — nearly half of the city’s roughly 130 — held signs such as “Show Some Respect,” and applauded as their local president told officials to finish negotiations that have stretched nearly 15 months.

“Things are still dragging very slowly,” CSEA Local 882 President John Shepherd said Wednesday by phone. “They’re just getting frustrated.”

The last multiyear pact between the city and the union expired Dec. 31, 2009. Members continue to work under the expired terms, and say there have been just three formal negotiating sessions since.

Neither the city nor the union would discuss specific offers.

Mayor Ralph Suozzi told the crowd that the most recent talks, held this month, were substantive and that “we’re there in good faith.”