Confidential Employees Say Paterson Has Breached Agreement, And Tradition
Class of state workers excluded from collective bargaining cries foul
Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:41:00
In 1971, Gov. Nelson Rockefeller singled out about 2,000 state employees who he believed should no longer be allowed to join a union or collectively bargain.
The group, known as Management Confidential (MC) employees, range from secretaries to department commissioners. Rockefeller reasoned that they should be exempted from the Taylor Law, the 1967 law which allows public employees to collectively bargain, because they possess insider information that could be used against the state in contract negotiations.
At the time, Rockefeller promised in signing the law that even though MC employees would not get a seat at the bargaining table, they would always be treated just as well as their unionized counterparts.
Nearly four decades later, MC employees say that promise has been broken by Gov. David Paterson’s administration. Last March, leaders of MC’s labor organization, the Organization of NYS Management Confidential Employees, said they were promised their normal pay increases. Then, on April 2, Director of State Operations Dennis Whalen sent a letter to MC employees saying the increases would not be forthcoming after all.
At the time, it appeared many public employees also might not receive their salary increases. Then, leaders of the Public Employees Federation (PEF) and the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) struck a deal with the Paterson administration in June, agreeing to a buyout package in exchange for their regular 3-percent yearly pay bump. MC employees were not included.
Though the move has saved the state an estimated $16 million, it has created a situation in which a mid-level MC employee, for instance, makes about $4,800 less a year than a comparably ranked PEF employee.
“It all boils down, to ‘Where’s ours?’” said Joseph Sano, executive director for the Organization of NYS MC Employees. “They certainly can’t say they’re doing it to keep spending down, where they’re going around spending money like drunken sailors.”
In particular, Sano said he takes issue with new hires in the governor’s office, which he said had increased the executive staff budget by 46 percent, despite a hiring freeze.
Jeffrey Gordon, spokesman for the New York State Division of the Budget, said that while the Paterson administration was open to continuing dialogue with representatives of the MC employees, there are no immediate plans to give them pay raises akin to the CSEA or PEF because of the state’s perilous budget situation.
“There are a lot of tough decisions that have been made,” Gordon said. “We also still have a multi-billion dollar budget deficit to deal with.”
As for the executive staff hires in the governor’s office, Gordon said that a condition of the hiring freeze had always been that essential positions in the office would still be filled.
Barbara Zaron, president of the Organization of NYS MC Employees, said the group was pushing the governor’s office to implement other measures that they believe would save far more than denying MC employees pay bumps, such as a “lag payroll” system implemented in the 1990s under Gov. Mario Cuomo.
She noted that Mayor Michael Bloomberg, also facing a budget deficit, had nonetheless found a way to give MC employees their normal salary increases.
In 1971, when Rockefeller excluded MC employees from the Taylor Law, state employees were not organized to the extent that they are today, and had little power to prevent Rockefeller’s move.
Zaron said this had never been an issue until now, because the governors that succeeded him had always kept Rockefeller’s promise.
Until now.
“Willy nilly, with the stroke of a pen, that promise was shoved aside,” Zaron said.
The group, known as Management Confidential (MC) employees, range from secretaries to department commissioners. Rockefeller reasoned that they should be exempted from the Taylor Law, the 1967 law which allows public employees to collectively bargain, because they possess insider information that could be used against the state in contract negotiations.
At the time, Rockefeller promised in signing the law that even though MC employees would not get a seat at the bargaining table, they would always be treated just as well as their unionized counterparts.
Nearly four decades later, MC employees say that promise has been broken by Gov. David Paterson’s administration. Last March, leaders of MC’s labor organization, the Organization of NYS Management Confidential Employees, said they were promised their normal pay increases. Then, on April 2, Director of State Operations Dennis Whalen sent a letter to MC employees saying the increases would not be forthcoming after all.
At the time, it appeared many public employees also might not receive their salary increases. Then, leaders of the Public Employees Federation (PEF) and the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) struck a deal with the Paterson administration in June, agreeing to a buyout package in exchange for their regular 3-percent yearly pay bump. MC employees were not included.Though the move has saved the state an estimated $16 million, it has created a situation in which a mid-level MC employee, for instance, makes about $4,800 less a year than a comparably ranked PEF employee.
“It all boils down, to ‘Where’s ours?’” said Joseph Sano, executive director for the Organization of NYS MC Employees. “They certainly can’t say they’re doing it to keep spending down, where they’re going around spending money like drunken sailors.”
In particular, Sano said he takes issue with new hires in the governor’s office, which he said had increased the executive staff budget by 46 percent, despite a hiring freeze.
Jeffrey Gordon, spokesman for the New York State Division of the Budget, said that while the Paterson administration was open to continuing dialogue with representatives of the MC employees, there are no immediate plans to give them pay raises akin to the CSEA or PEF because of the state’s perilous budget situation.
“There are a lot of tough decisions that have been made,” Gordon said. “We also still have a multi-billion dollar budget deficit to deal with.”
As for the executive staff hires in the governor’s office, Gordon said that a condition of the hiring freeze had always been that essential positions in the office would still be filled.
Barbara Zaron, president of the Organization of NYS MC Employees, said the group was pushing the governor’s office to implement other measures that they believe would save far more than denying MC employees pay bumps, such as a “lag payroll” system implemented in the 1990s under Gov. Mario Cuomo.
She noted that Mayor Michael Bloomberg, also facing a budget deficit, had nonetheless found a way to give MC employees their normal salary increases.
In 1971, when Rockefeller excluded MC employees from the Taylor Law, state employees were not organized to the extent that they are today, and had little power to prevent Rockefeller’s move.
Zaron said this had never been an issue until now, because the governors that succeeded him had always kept Rockefeller’s promise.
Until now.
“Willy nilly, with the stroke of a pen, that promise was shoved aside,” Zaron said.
