Denis Hughes, President	Ed Donnelly, Director
May 5, 2008	Issue Fourteen

President's MessageEFFICIENCY?

Last week’s report issued by the New York State Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness  was seemingly prepared under the misguided concept that it is the responsibility of working men and women to cure the economic ills of local governments. 
   
The report unfairly places the burden of solving the cost issue squarely on the shoulders of working men and women, and in particular, our public workforce.  The report specifically attacks health insurance and pension benefits as well as the collective bargaining rights and other labor protections that the labor movement has struggled for.
   
Some of the worst recommendations include:

• a study to create a new Tier 5 pension for public employees with less benefits or possibly a defined contribution plan.
  
• mandatory, minimum health insurance contributions for all local government workers, a clear violation of the Taylor Law.
  
• elimination of the Wicks Law (apparently, the Wicks Reform agreed to in the state budget is not sufficient).
  
• mergers and consolidations of various levels of local government services, including police and fire services, a process which may not be constitutional
  
• reopening and renegotiating collective bargaining agreements when local governments merge or consolidate services.

The commission had no LABOR representation and while we expect proposals like these to come from management at the bargaining table, we do not expect one-sided proposals like these to come from our elected officials or our leaders.   As time goes on, I am confident that the legislature will consider each of these proposals on their merits, and heed the concerns of working men and women throughout this state.

The New York State AFL-CIO looks forward to being a part of the public discourse, and is willing to listen to real and workable solutions that address the problems our local governments face. Solutions that include establishing a fair income tax system at the state level that will ensure our local governments and schools are not starved of the revenue they need to provide the services working New Yorkers rely on. Solutions that include fixing our broken economic development programs and industrial development agencies, and the practice of allowing business to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. And solutions that include curbing our health insurance costs, rather than passing on those costs to workers.    

Denis M. Hughes

Call to Action
LABOR LOBBYISTS MEETING
Monday, May 5, 2008
1:00 p.m., State Fed Headquarters, Albany

Guest Speakers have been invited.
Lunch will be served.

Issue of the WeekThe New York State AFL-CIO strongly supports  the following legislation:

A. 2124 John, et al/S. 2393 Leibell, et al
    
An Act to amend the labor law in relation to the broadcast employees freedom to work act.
    
This bill is designed to codify the decision of the Court of Appeals in American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. v. Wolf  52 NY 2nd  384 (1981), which held non-compete clauses in broadcast employees’ contracts to be non-enforceable. Broadcast employees have continued to be subjected to such illegal clauses because of the practical impossibility and expense of court action. By the time a case is reviewed, accepting the year or more of black listing by broadcast companies has become the more economical choice for the unemployed broadcast professional.  It is time for this unfair practice by broadcast companies to end.

Many other states have already passed this legislation; most recently Connecticut.  Why is New York lagging?

Keep An Eye OnTuesday May 20, 2008
Farmworker &  Domestic Worker Rally.   Support the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act & The Domestic Workers Bill of Rights! AFL-CIO President John Sweeney invited guest.  Rally  and March to take place at 2:00 p.m. at the West Capitol  Park Steps.  For more information contact Jordan Well, 845-891-7046.