Sigault, Slate Re-Elected
Court Clerks' Head Gets a Continuance

By REUVEN BLAU

Court Clerks' Association President Mike Sigault and the majority of his slate were elected unopposed for new two-year terms.

MIKE SIGAULT: 'A vote of confidence.'

"I took it as a vote of confidence from the membership," Mr. Sigault said during a June 6 phone interview. "Certainly the leadership is heading in the right direction. It's been 20 years since the president of this union has had an election [where he] was unopposed."

The union represents the 1,700 city-based clerks and their supervisors.

Others Re-Elected

Three of the five union officers on Mr. Sigault's slate were also re-elected without opposition. They are: Rocco DeSantis, first vice president; Joseph Radice, second vice president; and Pamela Browne, secretary. Treasurer Joel Cohen and Recording Secretary Mike Stein were both overwhelmingly elected June 1 via a mail ballot.

The union's main priority is to persuade the Office of Court Administration that its members should be included in the state's reclassification plan, Mr. Sigault said.

Broadbanding the court security titles has paved the way for better deployment of court officers by allowing OCA to shift them between court branches. The new system has also resulted in pay increases for most of the court system's Peace Officer titles. It is expected to eventually save the state millions, but its implementation costs are unclear.

Management is traditionally loath to raise salaries outside of the collective-bargaining arena. But Mr. Sigault said that he was "cautiously optimistic" his union would finally be included. "Our titles are still under review," he said. "We are hoping to have that resolved within this term of office."

Held Up By Judges' Pay

The issue has been complicated by the stalemate over judicial raises, which has also stalled contract talks between OCA and its other court unions. "Obviously the judicial raise is taking precedence over everything," Mr. Sigault said.

As with all the state's other public-employee unions, the CCA is working to negotiate a new contract with the Spitzer administration. The CCA's contract expired on March 31.

"Everything is in a holding pattern," Mr. Sigault remarked. "We are ready to go, but obviously they are not."