Lament Pay-Talk Delay
Stalled Judge Hikes Affect Court Unions

By REUVEN BLAU

The unions representing state court workers last week said that the stalemate over judicial raises has bogged down their own contract negotiations.

DENNIS W. QUIRK: An invisible injunction.

"We are anxiously awaiting their raise so we can begin negotiating," said Dennis W. Quirk, the president of the Court Officers' Association, who is heading a coalition of nine city-based unions representing court employees.

OCA: No Link

The Office of Court Administration's chief spokesman, however, denied the two issues were connected. "Contract talks are a separate and distinct issue," he asserted during a June 6 phone interview. "Contract talks are moving forward."

Mr. Quirk maintained that the negotiations were on hold. "OCA has made it clear that they are not in a position to have any meaningful discussions until this issue of judicial raises is resolved," he remarked. "The unions are working collectively to try to get the Legislature to approve these raises so that we can move forward and negotiate fair and equitable raises."

JOHN W. McKILLOP: Lobbies for judges.

The court unions have begun lobbying state legislators behind the scenes on behalf of the judges, sources indicated. "I think the legislative leadership knows the position of the court unions on this," said John McKillop, president of the Supreme Court Officers' Association, a union also included in the coalition.

Coalition Members

The other unions in the court coalition are: The Association of Surrogates and Supreme Court Reporters, 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.

The Civil Service Employees' Association also represents a group of statewide court employees. James Hennerty, the CSEA's Deputy Director of Contract Administration, said that contract talks with OCA began in March. But OCA officials cancelled a scheduled meeting this month, claiming that they needed more time to complete proposals for the group's 5,500 court employees.

"It's a cause of great concern," Mr. Hennerty said during a June 6 phone interview. "They have been unusually tardy in coming up with their proposals."

'Not Dragging Heels'

The next bargaining session is scheduled for August, he noted. "We've agreed with some reluctance to move it," he added. "We are not dragging our heels."

As for the judicial raises, the state's 1,300 judges have not received a pay hike or a cost-of-living adjustment in eight years. New York Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye has been lobbying the State Legislature for the past several years to boost salaries for local judges, and has now threatened to sue.

The issue was once again apparently held up by Albany politics. Traditionally, judges' pay hikes have been paired with salary boosts for members of the Legislature and high-level officials of the executive branch of government. The Legislature, however, was not included in the proposed bill because Mr. Spitzer has said he opposes raising lawmakers' salaries unless they agree to several reforms.

Since the budget was passed, the issue has been raised several times, but the State Senate and Assembly have failed to agree to a compromise on a new proposal.

Ms. Kaye recently held a news conference at the State Bar Association's headquarters highlighting a report that showed local judges earn less than many public-sector employees. The report also noted that judicial salaries in New York rank 48th in the nation when adjusted for the state's high cost of living.

Slows Reclassification

The impasse over the judicial pay issue has also stalled OCA's reclassification plans for its Attorneys and possibly other titles, insiders said. "It's holding up reclassification, because if the Court Attorneys were reclassified, some could end up making more than a judge," one source pointed out.

The state employs more than 200 Attorneys who help judges draft decisions. Last year, OCA officials said that it had no further reclassification plans for the court security titles, but the agency acknowledged then that it was closely looking into boosting the pay grades for its Attorneys.

All sides are hoping that the matter can be resolved before the Legislature begins its scheduled summer recess on June 21.

"We are meeting on June 27 to prepare to submit our demands," Mr. Quirk added.