NIFA eclipsed in union talks

Daily Point

NIFA delegated to the kid’s table?

Over the past week, the buzz around Nassau County has increasingly been that its municipal unions are close to inking a deal with County Executive Bruce Blakeman to settle a dispute over longevity pay. It’s a conflict that has dogged county labor relations and driven political agendas for five years.

But Nassau Interim Finance Authority Chairman Adam Barsky says he and his board don’t know a thing about the structure of that deal, a puzzling situation since NIFA would have the power to reject it. Before the agreement gets to NIFA, union members and the legislature would have to approve it.

Multiple Nassau County union leaders, however, have told The Point they’ve been led by the county to believe NIFA has been apprised of the details and is not opposed. And, union leaders say, if NIFA is not on board, they’ll be both furious and potentially unwilling to put such a deal before their members for approval.

With the memory fresh of former PBA president James McDermott losing member support and retiring after a deal he negotiated with former County Executive Laura Curran was voted down by his members in 2020, the trepidation is not surprising.

Nassau’s longevity issue first made headlines as part of the 2017 county executive race, when word of a deal agreed to by Rob Walker, then-chief deputy county executive to Edward Mangano, leaked to the public. Walker agreed with the unions to restore annual bonuses tied to the number of years on the job to county employees. The longevity pay had been in previous contracts, and the unions argue it is a working condition that would be restored automatically by any contract that did not explicitly bar it. The unions contend longevity pay returned with the 2014 contracts and the end of a county freeze on raises imposed from 2011 to 2014 by NIFA.

Curran’s 2017 Republican opponent, Jack Martins, got the endorsement of the four law enforcement unions but claimed he never promised to leave the longevity deal unchallenged. Curran fought the Walker deal as county executive, while the PBA and other county unions kept hammering away at her for it.

The conflict was heightened when the unions won the first court battle and Curran appealed the decision, as the unions contended she had said she’d live with whatever the state Supreme Court ruled, then reneged.

Curran and NIFA argued that because longevity was not mentioned in the 2014 contracts and because Walker did not have the power to approve the pay, it’s not owed. The unions say it is owed, and call the liability more than $100 million for arrears since 2015, and $20 million annually going forward.

The tone of the negotiations over three open contracts and longevity for all five unions changed after Bruce Blakeman succeeded Curran. The county and the unions agreed to remove NIFA negotiator Gary Dellaverson from the negotiations. Dellaverson was crucial to closing deals for the Superior Officers and the Detectives unions and is still working on the three open contracts — PBA, CSEA and Corrections — for NIFA.

NIFA has been a driving force behind every labor discussion and agreement made between the unions and the county since Jon Kaiman was appointed as chairman of the fiscal watchdog agency in 2013, replacing Ron Stack.

Barsky, appointed in 2018 to replace Kaiman, also had NIFA take a strong hand in negotiations, but now says of the longevity deal, "We know zero. NIFA has not been part of the conversation." Barsky says despite Nassau having ample funds from higher sales tax revenue and COVID stimulus money from Washington now, the modeling of future finances is such that NIFA might well reject a perpetual cost it believes is not owed.

The unions, though, are of two minds. They certainly don’t want to be tricked into a situation where their members approve a deal NIFA rejects. But they also contend NIFA, empowered to institute a control period by huge budget deficits a decade ago, might not be able to fend off a court challenge arguing that a control period spurred by deficits should end when they do.

— Lane Filler @lanefiller

Talking Point

Red Long Island

Geopolitical tensions with Russia are no foreign experience for Long Island, home to two controversial United Nations diplomatic compounds, in Glen Cove and Upper Brookville, as well as 20th century allegations of spying, Obama-era penalties on one property, and feuds over beach permits.

The concern about Russian movement is exemplified by this 1957 map from the State Department which depicts areas closed or open to travel by Soviet citizens.

"The rise of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union resulted in substantial limitations on where travelers could visit in the opposite nation," notes a 2017 Library of Congress blog post about the map. Long Island appears splashed with red in the image, denoting areas "closed off entirely to Soviet citizens."

There was strategy behind the restrictions including fears that intelligence agents would gain useful information. "Entry was generally barred from military installations, ports, coastlines, and industrial centers," notes the library post. Long Island, home to Grumman aerospace facilities and watery shores aplenty, was no exception.

Newsday covered the regional restrictions and their carve-outs multiple times, noting in 1955 that Nassau and Suffolk were largely "out-of-bounds except for the Oyster Bay area north of Route 25A (Northern Blvd.)" where the two Russian compounds are located. The article said they were used "for members of their United Nations delegation."

As to how the particular no-go zones were picked, Newsday pointed to "reciprocity and security," citing "American spokesmen."

Not everyone took the limitations seriously. One Brooklynite businessman said in 1955 that he was "100 percent for it. While we are about it, we might just as well extend the ban to include the Brooklyn Dodgers and thereby purify the air of this borough," according to a New York Post clip shared by Brooklyn historian and eagle-eyed Point reader Brian Berger.

A 1958 Newsday editorial said the piecemeal restrictions were "beneath the dignity of a great nation that ought to be proud to show off the assembly lines of Detroit, the rolling mills of Pittsburgh, or the harbor of San Francisco with its arching bridges."

The editorial noted the irony that a visiting Soviet functionary was limited to one of the wealthiest sections of Nassau, the Gold Coast region known for mansions, golf courses, and swanky clubs. The editorial suggested that the only conclusion the visitor could draw about the country from such sights was that "many Americans are bloated capitalists, and that democratic Long Island consists of such clubs as Piping Rock and Creek."

— Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Pencil Point

Weaponizing energy

For more cartoons, visit www.newsday.com/nationalcartoons

Final Point

Where we’re going, we need roads …

With federal infrastructure dollars on the way, and lots of talk from Gov. Kathy Hochul about fixing potholes, you might think advocates for road and highway dollars wouldn’t have much to fight about during this year’s budget negotiations.

But in a week when state lawmakers are hearing from lobbyists of all kinds in the lead-up to the release of the one-house budget proposals by the State Senate and Assembly, multiple organizations and coalitions of contractors and other advocates for road money have been adding their voices to the mix.

Their issue: Hochul’s proposed five-year capital plan is too small considering all the federal money from Washington coming down the pike.

Rebuild New York Now, a coalition of contractors, labor representatives and others, argues that the state is receiving $13.4 billion from the federal government — a $4.6 billion increase. But Hochul’s budget only increases the state’s capital program by $2 billion.

The five-year capital program Hochul proposed stands at $32.8 billion; Rebuild New York Now wants an increase to $44 billion, according to the group’s president and chief executive, Mike Elmendorf, who heads Associated General Contractors of New York State.

"If we’re not going to move the dial on this now, it is never going to happen," Elmendorf told The Point. "And it’s just going to cost us more later to do it."

Locally, the Long Island Contractors Association is focused on a similar push. LICA’s executive director, Marc Herbst, told The Point he spoke with state lawmakers Tuesday in Albany. Herbst, who also heads the New York Roadway and Infrastructure Coalition, noted that beyond the state funding issue, he’s also discussing the budget for the related effort known as CHIPS — the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program, which is particularly important for local and county roads. Herbst said Long Island’s combination of congestion and the so-called "freeze-thaw" cycle makes the region’s roads especially susceptible to significant damage.

"It’s a recipe for disaster for our roads," Herbst said.

Elmendorf said advocates from his group also have been in touch with the Island’s State Senate delegation and are planning an event on the Island next week, as negotiations will heat up following approval of the one-house budgets.

"Next week is a rubber meets the road moment," Elmendorf said.

— Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall

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