Letter: Triborough Amendment added balance

New York enacted the Taylor Law in 1967 to create a fair process for negotiating contracts in the public sector ["State workers have no reason to settle," Letters, Oct. 27]. The law established basic labor rights for public employees, including the right to organize and to collectively negotiate wages, benefits and working conditions. But in a balancing act intended to level the playing field, the law removed one labor right that empowers private sector employees: the right to strike.

This provision was agreed to by workers to benefit the public, but the Taylor Law contained various loopholes, the worst of which permitted management to stall negotiations until a contract had expired, and then move to unilaterally impose changes in pay or working conditions with no regard for the contract that had been in place.

This tactic forced public workers to renegotiate everything they had earned in an expired contract without being able to exercise the last-resort action of calling a strike. Management held all the cards.

The Triborough Amendment finally leveled the playing field in 1982 by requiring public employers to maintain the terms and conditions of an expired contract until a new one could be negotiated. This key correction has made New York the standard-bearer for ensuring stability and continuity in providing public services.

There are some who say keeping a contract in place locks in escalating costs, but the facts do not bear that out. In the average school district budget, for example, the impact of continuing an expired contract is typically around 1 percent.

The facts also contradict claims that Triborough is a disincentive to negotiate. The most recent statistics from the Rockville Centre Teachers' Association indicate that just 53 districts out of more than 700 in the state were at contract impasse at the start of the 2009-10 school year, with no disruption in service.

Rich Impagliazzo, Commack

Editor's note: The writer represents the Long Island regional office of the Civil Service Employees Association.