CSEA on Wrong End Of Labor-Management Beef; In-House Union Pickets

The clerical, secretarial and professional staff employed by the Civil Service Employees Association staged a protest on Labor Day against the largest state-employee union because it does not give its private-sector employees the same benefits it provides or pursues for its own members.

GUILLERMO PEREZ: 'Treat us like union members.'

The United Union Employees of New York, a 125-person independent labor union, launched its "Walk the Walk for Union Values" campaign upstate on Sept. 1.

'Why Give Us Less?'

"We laud CSEA for what it's done for public employees in New York State," Guillermo Perez, UUE-NY's chief negotiator, said in a Sept. 3 phone interview, "but we don't understand why they don't want the same things for us."

Mr. Perez has been pushing for an ergonomic standard for all employees who work extensively on a keyboard. While there is no state or Federal occupational regulation governing the matter, CSEA through its affiliation with the AFL-CIO has lobbied for such a requirement. UUE-NY officials said problems with carpal tunnel syndrome have been rampant among its members. JoAnn Colvin, a 10-year veteran of CSEA's finance department, was fired from her job in 2006 after severe carpal tunnel prevented her from working.

"CSEA has a serious problem with carpal tunnel syndrome among its staff, and I don't want to see anyone else have to suffer what I had to suffer," said Ms. Colvin, who was rehired as a part of a previous negotiation.

Mr. Perez said he was not singling out CSEA as being unique in failing to protect its employees, but took issue with the hypocrisy. "If CSEA really stands for this — and I believe they do — they should provide the same for their own employees," he said.

CSEA spokesman Stephen Madarasz said, "We always bargain in good faith with our staff unions and history has demonstrated that. We do our negotiations at the table and not in the news media."

Want Injury Job Protection

The private union has also been pushing for protection for members injured on the job. The proposal, based on the state Civil Service Law, would preserve employment for CSEA employees injured at work for up to one year, and if they cannot return to work within a year, place them on a preferred hiring list. Currently, private-sector employees do not have this protection.

UUE-NY also wants CSEA to institute a workplace violence prevention program. In 2005, CSEA lobbying helped secure a law requiring public employers in New York State to develop such programs.

The final sticking point for the staff union is to have the ventilation system of CSEA's headquarters in Albany inspected annually by a qualified health and safety inspector. Mr. Perez said asbestos was discovered in the building earlier this year, but CSEA had refused UUE-NY's requests for inspection. The private union pointed out that CSEA's Occupational Safety and Health Department regularly inspects publicly owned buildings where CSEA members work.

'Practice What You Preach'

"We're asking people to help us send a simple message to CSEA President Danny Donohue: practice what you preach," said UUE-NY President Mary Coulson. "Show our members the same level of fairness and decency that you demand of public employers on behalf of your members every day."

Negotiations between the two unions are expected to resume on Sept. 11.

"We've been in negotiations for several months," said Mr. Perez. "We still have a lot of issues to work out. Our hope is that they will hear us and be responsive to what we are asking, because it is fair and just and reasonable."