By Dave Lucas
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Albany, NY – New York State's largest public-employee union agreed on Wednesday to major wage and benefits concessions in a pact to avoid sweeping layoffs. Capital District Bureau Chief Dave Lucas reports.
The agreement between Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Civil Service Employees Association calls for three years without broad-based raises, while protecting the union's 66,000 members from job cuts.
CSEA President Danny Donohue says the governor "wanted to find another way, other than having layoffs".
The five-year deal includes a 3-year wage freeze and calls for workers to take off Nine unpaid days split across the 2011 and 2012 fiscal years. Ross Hanna, The unions' Director of Contract Administration, says union members will be paying more for health care.
Cuomo had threatened to lay off 9,800 state workers if public workers unions didn't make concessions during contract talks. Without an agreement, CSEA could face up to 4,500 layoffs if Cuomo used job reductions to achieve $450 million in state workforce savings. Ross Hanna believes the membership will approve the agreement.
EJ McMahon, Senior Fellow with the Manhattan Institute's Empire Center For New York State Policy, says overall the unions have weathered the recession well.
CSEA Ballots will be mailed out July 22nd and are expected back in mid-August.
Officials with PEF, the state's second-largest, state-employee union, tell WAMC they are waiting to hear back from the state's negotiating team on the status of the union's contract offer.