Taylor Law's Flaw

To the Editor:

That was a very fair-minded article on the Taylor Law in the Feb. 15 issue of The Chief ("Talking Taylor Law Changes").

The Taylor Law was set up to prevent municipal unions from, in effect, shutting down the city or state, by shutting down essential services.

Its only glaring flaw is that it has often failed to deliver any real redress for unions from equally malignant actions on the part of the government. The recent move, for New York City employee unions, from the New York City Office of Collective Bargaining to the state Public Employment Relations Board has been a welcome change.

It cannot be accepted on faith that governments never act in bad faith, nor do any wrong, as governments are comprised of men, just as surely as any other employer, or for that matter, any union is.

There should be a common goal for labor and management - getting the job done at a price and under conditions that are as fair as possible to both the consumer (in this case New York's taxpayers) and the workers.

That is no mean feat, and it's easy to see how either side can occasionally overlook the needs of the other. While the provision that bars municipal workers from striking was instituted primarily out of public health and safety concerns, there remains little penalty for local government for dealing in bad faith, delaying and extending contracts to increase its leverage.

That's why such conferences are necessary to consider updating such laws, and why an independent arbiter is so vital to the process.

JOSEPH M. KEARNEY, FDNY Haz-Mat-1