CSEA pact brings sensible change

Faced with a budget crunch, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo might have made national headlines by lambasting public employees and their unions, as governors elsewhere have done. Instead he's calmly and methodically winning concessions that will control state spending without cutting services.

Yesterday the governor and the 66,000-member Civil Service Employees Association, the state's largest union, announced a new labor agreement that represents at least a modest victory for taxpayers, and it was achieved without acrimony or eviscerating the pay or pride of New York's public employees.

That's just as it should be. Public employees perform vital functions and are entitled to fair compensation. Unfortunately, state spending in New York grew at an unsustainable pace for years, fueled in part by overly generous pensions and health benefits. This new five-year agreement will help, freezing wages for three years (except for normal "step" increases, such as those based on length of service) and boosting worker contribution toward medical insurance. The governor's office says the contract will save $127.5 million, with even greater savings upfront partly offset by 2 percent raises in the last two years.

Most important of all, if ratified, the agreement averts layoffs among CSEA members, which the governor had said would be necessary absent savings. That's not just good for union members, who have to put food on the table just like the rest of us. It's also good for the economy of New York, where unemployment is 7.8 percent, and for the quality of life in our state, because layoffs would have meant a reduction in government services. (CSEA members, to cite a few, include clerks, nurses, road crews, hospital staff and building-trades workers.) Instead we'll save some money, save some jobs and, except for some furlough time built into the contract, keep the same level of staffing.

Of course, this labor agreement has only whetted our appetite for more good news out of Albany, where so much has seemed to go right since Cuomo took office. Lawmakers there have agreed on a much-needed property tax cap, albeit in conjunction with the inevitable extension of rent regulation in New York City and surrounding counties (including 12,000 apartments in Nassau). And as we write this, prospects for same-sex marriage looked good, although Republican senators were still wrestling with whether to bring it to a vote. We urge them to do the right thing twice: by allowing a vote so that the public can see where each lawmaker stands, and by passing this vital legislation to grant full equality to gay New Yorkers.

Meanwhile, we congratulate the CSEA leadership, which did a good job for its members and the public they serve. We hope the rest of the state's unions accept similar terms; if they do, Cuomo claims, New York can save $1.6 billion over five years. Even if that estimate is too large by a factor of three, the savings would still be big -- and achieved without the harsh rhetoric we've heard from New Jersey and Wisconsin. Here, instead, leaders on both sides shunned cheap theatrics to keep New Yorkers working, and government functioning. hN