Deals to End April 1
State Unions Ready For Contract Talks

By REUVEN BLAU

With all the state's public-employee union contracts about to expire, the labor organizations that represent those workers are eager to begin negotiations with the Spitzer administration's newly appointed labor commissioner.

KEN BRYNIEN: Location, location, location.

"We are just waiting for the Governor to give the go-ahead," remarked Ken Brynien, the president of the Public Employees' Federation.

The state contracts are set to expire April 1. Traditionally, the unions begin negotiating new deals months before their accords expire, but that process has been delayed by the change in administrations.

Eye on Location Pay

Mr. Brynien said he is working to join forces with other state public-employee unions to negotiate an increase in location pay for employees assigned to the downstate area.

Presently, employees who work in the five boroughs or in Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland, and Westchester counties receive an additional $1,302 annual downstate adjustment. State workers in Dutchess, Orange, and Putnam counties get an additional $651 mid-Hudson adjustment.

ELIOT SPITZER: Unions await his approach.

"That barely covers the increased cost for taking the subway," Mr. Brynien said. "We are looking for something substantially over and above what's currently done."

The Civil Service Employees' Association, the state's largest public-employee union, is also eager to begin contract talks. "We are certainly looking forward to getting negotiations under way," said Stephen Madarasz, the spokesman for CSEA President Danny Donohue. "We have been ready to go since the start of the year, but we recognize the reality of the new administration trying to find its footing."

Negotiator From NYSUT

On March 16, Governor Spitzer appointed Gary Johnson to serve as the Director of the Governor's Office of Employee Relations. Mr. Johnson had been working as the associate counsel for the New York State United Teachers since 2004. From 1994 to 2004, he worked as the Associate Counsel and Director of Litigation for the New York State Public Employment Relations Board.

"He is certainly a seasoned professional," Mr. Madarasz said. "The fact that he has some experience on the labor side is certainly a plus."

Mr. Brynien said he recently spoke with Mr. Johnson. "He said he wants to start moving on some of this stuff," the union president said. "I think he has a solid understanding of what's involved and what negotiations are all about. I think he'll be a fair and objective person, which is all we can hope for."

Quick Deals Unlikely

The contract situation is unique, Mr. Maderasz said. "I think this has been a little bit unusual, in that we are likely to have our contracts expire before we even begin our negotiations," he remarked. "I don't anticipate that it's going to be resolved quickly; we are not expecting it to be protracted, either."

PEF and other state unions plan to ask the Spitzer administration to pay their downstate members just as the Federal Government compensates its workers in those high cost-of-living areas.

"They pay 10.5 percent of base pay," said Lou Matrazzo, PEF's vice president and chair of the union's contract team. "We are trying to move the state towards that model. We believe if we all talk with one voice, we will have some success."

But Mr. Madarasz said that location pay wasn't as much of a priority for the CSEA. "I know that's an issue," he said. "I think it's a bigger issue for PEF than it is for CSEA."

The two unions have had a strained relationship ever since PEF was formed out of the professional, science and technology titles that broke away from the CSEA in 1979.

But Mr. Matrazzo maintained that PEF has built a coalition of unions that have agreed to stress the importance of increasing location pay. According to Mr. Matrazzo, that group actually includes the CSEA, as well as the United University Professions, the Organization of New York State Management/Confidential Employees, and the small number of state employees represented by District Council 37.

'Put Same Pressure On'

PEF is hoping that the other unions help put pressure on the state. "All of the unions need to speak with a common voice," Mr. Matrazzo said. "We all need to put the same pressure on, and make it known that this is something we need to address."

The state, he contended, has struggled to recruit and retain employees assigned to work in Long Island and in other metropolitan areas. "If they can't hire, then they have to hire outside, which costs them more money," he said.

PEF is the state's second-largest state-employee union, representing 54,000 mostly white-collar workers. Roughly 20,000 of its members are assigned to downstate regions.

'Can't Afford Houses'

The lack of substantial location pay is a particular problem for employees in Long Island, Mr. Matrazzo said. "People in the city tend to be in rent-controlled apartments," he observed. "The people in Long Island absolutely cannot afford a house. For our members, unless they are two-income families, home ownership is out of reach for them."

Mr. Brynien said the issue will reach a crisis point if the salaries for those workers are not increased. "The bottom line is, if you want to continue to have state workers provide services in New York City, you are going to have to pay people to do the job," he said. "You are going to get to a point where nobody is going to want to be a state worker in the downstate area."

PEF and CSEA are not the only unions gearing up for contract talks. A coalition of eight unions representing court employees was set to meet to begin "strategizing" as this paper hits newsstands March 27, said Dennis W. Quirk, president of the Court Officers' Association.

The coalition includes: The Association of Surrogates and Supreme Court Reporter, the Court Officers' Benevolent Association of Nassau County, the Communications Workers of America, the Suffolk County Court Employees Association, the Court Attorneys Association of the City of New York, The Ninth Judicial District Court Employees Association, and the union representing law assistants.