Want Right to Arbitration
Nassau COs Rally on Contract

By REUVEN BLAU

Close to 300 Nassau County Correction Officers rallied April 26 in front of the county legislative office building, seeking to persuade lawmakers to grant the union the right to binding arbitration.

Photo by Kevin Imm ARGUING FOR ARBITRATION: Close to 300 Nassau County Correction Officers April 26 rallied in front of the county legislative office building, urging local legislators to grant the union the right to binding arbitration. The officers have been working under an expired contract since January 2005.

The Sheriff Officers' Association (ShOA), which represents approximately 1,100 Correction Officers, contends that the local negotiators have refused to bargain with the union until after the Nassau County Police Benevolent Association arbitration award is issued this June.

'Why Hold Us Up?

"We don't understand what our negotiations have to do with theirs," asserted Brian Sullivan, ShOA's first vice president.

Nassau County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi's press office did not return a call seeking comment.

The Correction Officers, who serve at the Nassau County Correctional Facility in East Meadow, have been working under an expired contract since January 2005. The wage dispute seemed to be resolved in August of that year, when both sides announced a tentative six-year agreement that included a provision to curb excessive overtime.

A week before the proposed deal was announced, however, it was revealed that one Correction Officer earned $224,903 over the previous year with the help of 1,040 hours of overtime. The county also claimed that the average officer earned $100,000 annually by supplementing his or her salary working overtime, an assertion the union vehemently denied.

The tentative deal provided a 20-percent raise over six years, starting with a 2.5 percent hike in 2005 and a 3.5 percent boost for each of the next five years.

Vetoed By Legislature

But the accord was rejected by the Nassau County Legislature after it was revealed that Nassau's other unions had the ability to demand similar benefits under their "me-too" clauses. Changing all those deals could have cost the state an additional $140 million.

A fact-finding panel appointed by the state Public Employment Relations Board is set to begin reviewing the situation. The panel's recommendations will not be binding, but are likely to offer a framework for an eventual deal.

The union is now hoping that the State Legislature will grant it the right to binding arbitration, but the proposal doesn't appear likely to become law. The measure first needs a home-rule message from local lawmakers before being reviewed at the state level. But the Nassau Legislature's Democratic Majority Leader, Judy Jacobs, recently refused to put the issue on the calendar, according to the union.

Mr. Sullivan pointed out that Ms. Jacobs had previously supported the measure when the county's Republicans promised to block it. "Now she realizes that we may have enough Republican votes, and she's afraid to put it on because it may pass," he contended.

Only One Without Right

ShOA President John Duer has contended that his union is the only law-enforcement labor organization in the area that does not have the right to binding arbitration.

As for the county's move to delay the talks, the negotiators may be looking to persuade the Nassau PBA to amend its re-opener clause, insiders said. But ShOA officials pointed out that the county's other supervisory police unions still have those provisions in their contracts.

"I don't know what's going to happen in June, because there is no magic wand that is going to be waived around," Mr. Sullivan remarked.