Cop Unions Opposed Him
Schmertz Bows Out As PERB Nominee

By REUVEN BLAU

Eric J. Schmertz has withdrawn his name as a nominee to the Public Employment Relations Board after the State Senate refused to confirm his appointment, largely due to opposition from three of the city's supervisory police unions.

ERIC SCHMERTZ: Award had an aftershock.

The unions representing NYPD Detectives, Lieutenants and Captains successfully bottled up Governor Spitzer's nomination of Mr. Schmertz, who was the chair of the 2005 Patrolmen's Benevolent Association arbitration panel, which created much controversy by sharply reducing the starting pay for new cops.

Givebacks Slammed

Practically all of the city's uniformed unions have blasted that pattern-setting award, although it also increased incumbent officer salaries by 10.25 percent over two years.

Critics of the award have repeatedly pointed out that those raises were partially funded by reducing the pay scale for new cops and other givebacks. The other police unions in all but one case had to slash starting pay for new promotees to get the same raises.

MICHAEL PALLADINO: Strongly objected.

"Now that Mr. Schmertz has withdrawn his name from consideration, that should open the door for other names to be considered," said Detectives Endowment Association President Michael J. Palladino.

The supervisory unions' opposition was apparently enough to persuade Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno to block the nomination. The Governor and Senator Bruno have feuded bitterly for most of Mr. Spitzer's time in office, which has led to almost-complete gridlock in Albany.

Mr. Bruno, however, did eventually confirm most of Governor Spitzer's 60 other nominations to various state posts.

'Everyone Agreed'

Mr. Schmertz, who did not respond to a call seeking comment last week, has stressed that the 2005 decision was a unanimous award agreed to by the parties representing both the Bloomberg administration and the PBA. He has also maintained that the award did not cover the supervisory unions, although the city used its terms as a pattern for all other uniformed unions.

The lack of a complete tripartite PERB panel has created a backlog of labor cases pertaining to the state's largest public-employee union.

PERB Chairman Jerome Lefkowitz has recused himself from all matters involving his longtime former employer, the Civil Service Employees Association.

Similarly, the agency's other board member, Robert S. Hite, has removed himself from handling issues dealing with Council 82 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. He served as the general counsel at that union from 1995 to 2000.

14-Month Moratorium

As a result, PERB has not addressed any matters brought to the board by those two unions since December 2006.

"I like and respect Eric quite a bit, but primarily I'm disappointed that we are left with only two board members, because we are hampered with getting any decisions out," Mr. Lefkowitz said during a Feb. 6 phone interview.

By all accounts, the incomplete board has not created a major backlog, but there are several representation cases pending. "We have four or five unions that have won elections to represent specific titles and we can't certify them because the CSEA was a party to some of them, or a union that Mr. Hite had represented was a party," Mr. Lefkowitz remarked. "There are some inequities because we don't have a third member."

There are also several improper practice charges pending before the board, he added.

PBA Backed Schmertz

Not all the police unions opposed Mr. Schmertz's nomination. "The DEA, LBA and CEA are doing the city's bidding by opposing the nomination of Eric Schmertz, who has a long history of fairly applying the state's labor laws," PBA President Patrick J. Lynch previously said in a statement. "In the face of a civilian settlement of zero and three percent over two years, Mr. Schmertz awarded the PBA 10.25 percent over the same period, paying police well over $100 million more in salary and benefits than they would have gotten under the civilian settlement."

But the smaller police unions were still able to sway key legislators. Most of the city's other labor leaders have also been highly critical of the PBA award. Under it, the PBA had to consent to reductions in starting salary and the pay scale that currently stand to cost each of those newer cops $48,000 during their first six years on the job. In comparison, a less-severe stretch of the pay scale agreed to by District Council 37 during that period cost its new members an average of $6,900.