Spitzer Cites Equity
Give Arbitration To DAs' Investigators

By REUVEN BLAU

Governor Spitzer has signed into law a bill granting the Detective Investigators' Association the ability to seek binding arbitration to resolve contract disputes like the one the union currently has with the Bloomberg administration.

JOHN FLEMING: 'Treating us like cops.'

DIA President John M. Fleming hailed the bill's enactment, noting that the Governor vetoed similar union-backed measures covering court employees and Security Hospital Treatment Assistants. "First and foremost we want to thank the Governor," Mr. Fleming said. "We are really happy that he took the time to look at our problem."

Want 'Uniformed' Rights

The DIA has been in a drawn-out contract dispute with city negotiators, whom the union contends have refused to recognize the group's uniformed status.

The DIA's contract expired April 13, 2003. The union represents 302 Investigators who are duly appointed peace officers who work for the five District Attorneys' Offices and the Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Office.

In December 2006, Office of Collective Bargaining mediator Gayle Gavin was appointed to assist the parties. She held hearings three months ago where both sides argued their case. Ms. Gavin will issue non-binding recommendations that will likely offer a framework for an eventual deal.

GOVERNOR SPITZER: Corrects an inequity.

The DIA believes that binding arbitration will help the union avoid protracted negotiations in the future and will place the union on equal footing with the city's other police labor organizations. "I feel that you have the Governor saying we should have the same bargaining rights as every other police officer in the state," Mr. Fleming remarked. "Now if we are at an impasse, we can have certainty and finality in our contract."

Wants PBA's 5% Hikes

Mr. Fleming said the DIA has offered to have his members work an additional half-hour each day in order to produce the 4.24 percent in savings that was generated by the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association arbitration award in June 2005 in return for two 5-percent raises for incumbent Police Officers.

JOHN McKILLOP: 'Bill picked up baggage.'

His members, he continued, have told him that they won't accept anything less than what the other police unions negotiated during the last round of bargaining.

The union filed a lawsuit in May 2005 charging that city negotiators were ignoring the 1989 state legislation granting its members uniformed status. Two months later, the city settled the litigation after agreeing to stipulate that it would adhere to the classification.

But Mr. Fleming contended that the Bloomberg administration has failed to recognize that agreement. "I think there's a major problem," he said during a July 10 phone interview. "It undermines the whole theory behind collective bargaining."

'Easy to Manhandle Us'

The union president charged that the city was taking advantage of his members because they comprise a smaller group. "It's easier to manhandle us," he argued. "We really are out there on our own; we really are an unusual group."

Roughly 70 percent of the union's members are retired Detectives, and they average 20 years of investigative experience, according to Mr. Fleming. The investigators, however, are not municipal employees; they are paid for by the five District Attorneys' Offices, which are under state jurisdiction although their primary funding comes from the city budget.

DENNIS QUIRK: Harsh words for CSEA.

Governor Spitzer noted that the Detective Investigators are defined as Police Officers under the Criminal Procedure Law. "In addition, no reason has been given as to why these individuals were excluded when binding arbitration was extended to those serving identical functions in District Attorneys' Offices outside New York City," his approval memo stated.

Will Fix Bill's Flaw

The document pointed out that there is "one flaw" in the bill. "It authorizes binding arbitration not just for compensation issues, but for disciplinary and other non-compensation issues," Governor Spitzer said. But both the State Senate and Assembly sponsors have agreed to enact a chapter amendment to correct that problem, the approval note said.

Governor Spitzer, however, vetoed binding arbitration bills for a broad group of court employees and Security Hospital Treatment Assistants (SHTA), citing potential costs. "In particular, arbitrators tend to grant higher awards than are achievable through the collective-bargaining process, and thereby increase costs to government and taxpayers," the court legislation veto message stated.

The measure would have included city-based Court Reporters, Court Officers, and Senior Court Officers.

Draws a Line

The arbitration process, the veto added, shifts decision-making from elected officials into the hands of third parties, who are not accountable to the electorate for decisions that can have a profound effect on government finances.

The veto message said that the mere existence of arbitration as an option can deter productive negotiations "to the extent employees believe they will get a better deal from the arbitration panel in the event of an impasse."

Citing those issues, the Governor said that further expanding binding arbitration should be "greatly constrained, and subject to certain limiting principles." His veto message also stated that the bill would "go outside the boundaries" of public-safety employee titles, because the legislation included Court Reporters and Clerks. "To expand access to arbitration in this manner would broaden its scope beyond anything granted thus far," the veto said.

John McKillop, president of the Supreme Court Officers' Association, said the unions would look to narrow the bill next year. "The clear message was that there were too many groups involved," he said during a July 11 phone interview. "This bill picked up a lot of baggage along the way, such as Court Reporters. We are going to be looking at this bill with a view of trying to cure the Governor's objections."

Upstaters Excluded

The rejection note also stated that the measure would extend binding arbitration to downstate employees while excluding upstate workers in similar titles. "Such piecemeal extensions of this procedure generally should be avoided, but are particularly unwarranted here, where units with different procedures would be negotiating with the same employer," the veto stated. The excluded employees would then argue that they have been treated unfairly and that they should also be granted binding arbitration, Mr. Spitzer said.

Dennis W. Quirk, president of the Court Officers' Association, blamed the Civil Service Employees Association's opposition of the bill as the primary reason the measure was rejected by the Governor.

"We are a little disappointed that it was vetoed," Mr. Quirk said. "CSEA doesn't want its judicial employees to be different than their executive branch employees."

The union president noted that it took nearly eight years to persuade the Office of Court Administration to give a geographic pay boost for Court Officers and Clerks assigned to work in the city and surrounding counties. "That should have been message enough," he argued, referring to the need for binding arbitration to resolve such disputes.

'Technical Defects'

Governor Spitzer, however, added that the bill included "significant technical defects." In particular, the legislation did not state when arbitration should be triggered, his veto said, noting that former Governor Pataki rejected the bill twice citing that concern.

The binding arbitration bill for SHTAs was supported by the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, which argued that those in the security title perform work similar to Correctional Officers.

SHTAs serve in the state's forensic psychiatric facilities, providing care and custody to some of the most dangerous criminally insane individuals in the state, the bill noted. They are also part of the same service-based retirement system, the legislation stated.

Governor Spitzer, however, rejected the measure, citing many of the same objections he invoked for the court employee veto. "While SHTAs are peace officers for some purposes ... they also perform numerous therapeutic tasks," the veto stated. Other similar peace officer groups who work in the mental health field would also seek binding arbitration if the bill was signed into law, the memo added.