 |
| There Is Some Important Un-Finished Business in Monroe County |
CSEA is once again calling on the County Administration to
re-start the negotiations process and meet with the union negotiating team. The
process has been held up by the County’s actions for over a year and after the
most recent hearing with the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB); a
follow-up hearing may be necessary to hear more of the County’s explanation for
their bogus charges against CSEA. A final decision from these hearings may take
several months, as will the process for Fact-Finding; once the process is allowed
to get started.
The PERB hearing did bring some information to light. First,
the County seems worried about that the Fact-finding process could result in a
report that would disagree with their proposals and actions over the past three
years and be more favorable to the unions’ point of view. Second, the County is hesitant to defend
itself over two workforce issues that other counties throughout the state
accept as standards of negotiations. The two issues are Retroactive Pay and
Domestic Partner Benefits, which CSEA has requested to be part of the contact
in the past, are not “new” proposals, and again, taken for granted to be a
standard part of collective bargaining agreements by many government entities statewide.
Now that the County’s motives have finally surfaced. CSEA is
only asking that the County follow the process to explain their position on
these issues in Fact-Finding, or drop their labor charges against CSEA and get
back to the negotiation table. The CSEA negotiations team is very confident
that the PERB hearing decision will exonerate the union from any bad-faith
bargaining practices. The team is also motivated by the recent findings and
expectations that a Fact-Finding report would be more favorable for the union
as well. CSEA Unit 7400 President Cris Zaffuto said, “It would be better for
all parties, if the County would just meet with us for proper negotiations,
create a new agreement with us and move it forward to the membership. This
constant stalling and waiting for decisions and reports only wastes time and
will not be productive for the County in the end.” She added, “I hope the
County sees the writing on the wall and we can work to re-build the decent
labor/management relations we have had in the past.”
CSEA urges all members to come to the next meeting of the
County Legislature and join your negotiating team as they request the
legislator’s support in returning to negotiations with the Administration.
Important date to remember:
Tuesday,
June 12th, 5:45 - Monroe County Legislative Meeting, Monroe County Office
Building – “We’ll see
you there!”
The CSEA
Unit 7400 Leadership thanks all members for their continued involvement and
will continue to keep all members up to date on the contract situation. Reminder:
Get up to date info at the Unit 7400 Blog at http://unit7400.blogspot.com
No contract for 4 years. Maggie Brooks takes back seat to negotiations and allows her high price lawyers to run the show with the taxes payers money.
ReplyDelete