July 24, 2008
Unions triumph
No more negotiating at the bargain table. No more lobbying the Legislature. Public employee unions won big time Thursday when Governor David Paterson signed into law a measure that means the unions will never worry about collecting millions of dollars of agency shop fees from nonunion members.
Opposed by local government organizations, the measure has been a top priority of public sector unions for years. While the Assembly passed it a number of times, the Senate approved it for the first time this year. For background, see NY Public Payroll Payroll Watch here and here.
In the olden days, public-sector unions had to negotiate at the bargaining table to get employers to collect fees of nonunion members. Then the Legislature pre-empted employers by passing bills every two years making agency shop fee deductions automatic. That allowed legislators to show to unions that they're simpatico.
By having agency shop fees permanently crossed off labor's "to do"
list, unions will have resources to make new demands and ask legislators, "What have you done for us lately?"
In a New York Times story today, Richard C. Iannuzzi, president of New York State United Teachers, said:
"If under the law we're obligated to represent every employee, then it's only fair that every employee pays something toward the cost of being represented."
But E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center called the measure:
"a very, very significant present to the labor unions....What it does is it removes one of the few remaining leverage points people still have over unions. And management, which is the taxpayer, has very, very little remaining leverage."
« Previous |
Main
| Next »
|
