(Very much about the future of (public sector) work in the US.) M
-----Original Message----- From: Portside Labor [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2011 4:59 PM To: [email protected] Subject: State Employees' Union Accepts Wage and Benefits Concessions State Employees' Union Accepts Wage and Benefits Concessions By THOMAS KAPLAN The New York Times August 16, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/16/nyregion/state-employees-union-accepts-wag e-and-benefits-concessions.html ALBANY -- Members of New York's largest union of state employees, in a begrudging acknowledgment of the increasingly hostile mood toward public workers, have agreed to accept major wage and benefits concessions sought by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. The union, the Civil Service Employees Association, announced late Monday night that its members had voted by about 60 percent to 40 percent to approve the contract agreement that the governor and union leaders struck in June. The ratification was a critical victory for Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat whose plan to close the state's budget gap relied in large part on a bet that state employees would be willing to stomach a freeze on wages and an increase in the cost of health benefits in return for safeguarding their jobs. The union's president, Danny Donohue, said in a statement: "These are not ordinary times, and C.S.E.A. worked hard to reach an agreement that we believed would be in everyone's best interest. C.S.E.A. members agree that this contract is reasonable and responsible for the long term and shows that C.S.E.A. members will do what is right for the good of all New Yorkers." Savings from the five-year contract are expected to total $73 million this fiscal year, part of the $450 million in cuts that Mr. Cuomo's budget counted on extracting from the state work force. And the governor's office projected that if other unions agreed to the same terms total savings for the state would amount to $1.6 billion over five years. Beyond the savings, the ratification also goes a long way toward validating Mr. Cuomo's strategy for dealing with public workers, tens of thousands more of whom will vote as early as next month on whether to agree to their own concessions. In labor negotiations, the governor took a firm stance. He demanded significant financial concessions and was not shy about threatening layoffs to gain leverage. At the same time, he did not attack collective bargaining or speak about the unions with any kind of hostility, unlike some other governors seeking to cut work-force costs, like Scott Walker in Wisconsin and Chris Christie in New Jersey. "This is a big, big win -- a win for the union and a win for the people of the state," Mr. Cuomo said in a statement. "The union avoided layoffs, and the state is financially stronger. I'm pleased that our approach of labor and management working together is vindicated." <For the entire article, go to http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/16/nyregion/state-employees-union-accepts-wag e-and-benefits-concessions.html> ____________________________________________ PortsideLabor aims to provide material of interest to people on the left that will help them to interpret the world and to change it. Submit via email: [email protected] Submit via the Web: http://portside.org/submittous3 Frequently asked questions: http://portside.org/faq Sub/Unsub: http://portside.org/subscribe-and-unsubscribe PS Labor Archives: http://portside.org/archive Contribute to Portside: https://portside.org/donate _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
