Nassau can't close budget gap
Jerry Laricchiuta, president of CSEA, Nassau Local 830, in his Mineola office. Credit: Newsday/Kathy Kmonicek, 2007
When do union leaders gleefully leap at renegotiating extremely generous long-term contacts? When they know they will get an even better deal.
So congratulations to Nassau's Civil Service Employees Association, the county's largest public employee union. County Executive Edward Mangano invited its leaders to talk "givebacks," and when both sides left the table it really had happened - except it was the county that gave back to the union.
Mangano, desperate for a press release heralding a restructuring of the killer labor contracts he inherited, got taken for a ride. Instead of renegotiating an agreement that could demonstrate his ability to close a budget gap and steer the county away from the shoals of insolvency, Mangano proved the opposite.
It's no wonder the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority, the state board that is authorized to take control of the county's finances if there is a 1 percent or $26-million deficit, scheduled a meeting for today. The CSEA deal gives the board a smoking gun.
Jerry Laricchiuta, leader of Local 830, got a two-year extension, to 2017, of a generous contract that gives his members annual 3.25 percent wage increases, and doesn't require them to pay a dime toward their health care coverage. The union kept its no-layoff clause in place through 2011. The local represents 7,000 county employees, including public works crews, social workers, clerical staff and computer technicians.
Mangano did get the union to agree to reduce the pay scale for new hires. However, that means the county, which is trying to reduce its payroll, has to hire to see any benefit. But there is a hiring freeze in place. There is little real monetary gain in the next few years and after seven years, those workers leap right back to the salary scale of the original deal. That's not long-term structural change. While it could save some money in the later years, it's not enough - certainly not the $70 million Mangano is touting - considering the depth of Nassau's financial problems this year and especially in 2012.
Mangano did get the union to forgo a half-day off when a worker donates blood. While that might, might, get a few more hours of productivity, there's no real money saved there since workers' shifts don't have to be covered by others on overtime.
While Mangano must play the very bad hand dealt him by former County Executive Thomas Suozzi, who left these generous union contracts, there is no better political environment than now to demand concessions. Governors and mayors around the nation are enacting wage freezes, pay cuts and layoffs to manage their labor costs, while taxpayer groups are marching around city halls with pitchforks.
Even if the legislature foolishly approves this new contract, NIFA would kill it. The oversight board maintains there is at least $150 million at risk in the 2011 budget. Mangano and the CSEA did nothing yesterday to make it any less risky. hN
