Lawrence contract talks go public

Thursday’s Village of Lawrence meeting took less than 90 minutes gavel to gavel, but it packed in several issues as a standing-room-only crowd spilled into the Village Hall waiting area outside the board room.

Village employees, who are members of the United Public Service Employees union, made up the largest portion of the audience as they continue to seek a new contract, which they have not had in five years. The number of workers is down to 25 from 65 following several years of staff reductions.

In 2014, village workers voted to replace the Civil Service Employees Association with the Ronkonkoma-based UPSE. In spite of the change in representation, the impasse in negotiations has continued even after the parties used a mediator to try to sort out their differences.

The current offer from the village calls for salary increases of 2.5, 1.5 and 1.5 percent over the next three years. “The village believes it is being fair and more than generous by all accounts, in that its proposal is competitive and realistic, and addresses the needs of both residents and employees,” Mayor Martin Oliner read from a prepared statement at the meeting.

Jim Gangale, UPSE’s lead negotiator on the contract, said that the union’s proposal is an across-the-board $2,000 raise and 2 percent increases for the next three years. “We think this is more than fair,” he said.

Oliner and Brandon Nasierowski, a UPSE labor relations representative, sniped at each other after they both read statements. Nasierowski claimed that Oliner was being disrespectful when he had his photo taken by the union’s huge sign outside Village hall that proclaims, “Mayor Oliner is Unfair to Village of Lawrence Employees, They Deserve a FAIR CONTRACT NOW!”

The mayor said that the union was being disingenuous about the negotiations, and that the village has negotiated with the UPSE. “We are trying to be fiscally responsible, while providing for the employees,” Oliner said.