CSEA deal: A big win for Cuomo?

Once a deal is sealed, its negotiators will often say sportsmanlike things.

In that vein, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo called news of the Civil Service Employees Association's latest contract ratification "a win for the union and a win for the people of the state."

But in the annals of New York's collective-bargaining world, the outline of this five-year pact appears to mark a big win for Cuomo and a significant concession for state employees.

Members of the largest state workforce union agreed to zero across-the-board wage increases through the 2013-14 fiscal year. They agreed to pay higher health insurance payments. And, they'll be furloughed for five days this fiscal year.

Of course, Cuomo and CSEA leaders -- with a shared interest in getting the rank-and-file to take the five-year deal once they'd tentatively reached it -- emphasized as much what the members would not lose as what they stood to gain.

Their jobs, for example.

Beyond 2 percent salary hikes between 2014 and 2016, CSEA members keep so-called built-in performance advances and longevity payments. For the three zero-increase years, current employees get onetime "retention" payments totaling $1,000.

All along there was a big 'L' in the room -- and it stood for layoffs.

Cuomo and company promised wholesale dismissals if labor did not accede to the state's savings goals. In the end, CSEA employees received what negotiators called "broad layoff protection" under the deal. This became the main rationale for what the union said was a 60 percent to 40 percent vote in favor of the pact, with an estimated 30,000 of 66,000 members having mailed in their ballots.

The no-layoff assurance adds up to a limited warranty.

It does not apply to "workforce reductions due to management decisions to close or restructure facilities," under language released by the state. Nor will it apply in case of "material or unanticipated changes in the state's fiscal circumstances."

Remember, Cuomo has an "agency redesign and efficiency" task force at work discussing how to pare operations.

Cuomo's political goals are clear. He's trying to slash state costs. He has budgets to conquer. And he's in the anti-tax hike mainstream.

The labor world has its own politics. CSEA President Danny Donohue put something on the line by agreeing to the givebacks. He had other union officials, such as Nick LaMorte, who heads the union's Long Island region, told the voting members it truly was a matter of saving nearly 10,000 of their jobs.

Donohue next year is expected to seek the presidency of his international union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Speculation has begun in some circles over what this contract could mean to that contest.

Fortunes can shift quickly in public-employee politics.

Only three months ago, Cuomo faced a setback when the relatively small state Law Enforcement Officers Union, Council 82 -- without a new contract agreement since 2005 -- rejected a tentative deal that, unlike the CSEA contract, would have eliminated the so-called step increases. Those contract efforts are now in abeyance as Council 82, another AFSCME affiliate, faces decertification and replacement by a rival union, the Police Benevolent Association of New York State Inc.

The next big contract landmark comes in a few weeks -- a vote by the state Public Employees Federation, the second-largest state union, on essentially the same package as CSEA's. For PEF, for now, Cuomo's layoff threat remains in force.

In part, Donohue said in a statement that the CSEA deal in extraordinary times shows his union "will do what is right for the good of all New Yorkers."

Is that a "win-win?" Or a "didn't-lose-as-much-as-we-could've?"