Cuomo is fighting for taxpayers by taking on unions

Last week I wrote about Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano’s 2012 budget proposal, one that actively seeks to reduce Nassau County’s work force by an additional 700 employees. Mangano’s call for concessions by union leaders was met by steep opposition and what he referred to as “juvenile” criticism by labor leaders.

These aren’t just tough times for Nassau County residents. This past week, Governor Cuomo took a page from the Mangano playbook and used more than words in his fight against the state’s public employees and their union leaders.

Labor leaders, it’s time to wake up! No one is saying our political leaders are anti-union, but this is the reality of our time. We can no longer afford business as usual and the salary and benefits packages that continue to bankrupt our state.

On Sept. 25, Cuomo called on public employees to come to the bargaining table and work out a deal to eliminate or reduce certain contractual clauses that are destroying our state’s finances. He told the Public Employee Federation that if it did not approve a “bare bones” contract, he would lay off close to 3,500 workers. He proposed a five-year agreement that included a three-year salary freeze; five unpaid furlough days in the first year of the contract; four unpaid furlough days in the second year, which would be repaid over 18 months starting in March 2016; an increase in employees’ health care premiums and layoff protection for the first two years. In the fourth and fifth years of the deal, union workers would receive 2 percent pay increases.

The proposal was basically a mirror image of the deal offered and passed by the states’ largest union employer, the Civil Service Employees Association. Unfortunately, the members of the PEF failed to concede and voted it down, 19,629 to 16,906.