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| 2005/12/21-23 [Reference/BayArea, Politics/Domestic/Crime] UID:41109 Activity:low |
12/21 I understand that the transit strike is causing huge headaches in
NYC, but I don't get how a Judge can impose fines on the strikers
if the strike itself is legal. Help?
http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/feeds/ap/2005/12/21/ap2408180.html
\_ "for the illegal strike" Umm.. it's not legal.
\_ http://www.goer.state.ny.us/cna/bucenter/taylor.html
http://csua.org/u/eee (cornell.edu)
\_ eee!
The Taylor Law, passed in 1967, prohibits public employees in the
state of New York from going on strike, instead requiring management
and the union to ultimately settle their differences via binding
arbitration conducted by a neutral third party.
\_ Thank you, that's very informative. -op
\_ I lived in NYC and have little sympathy for the MTA workers.
Having said that, If you remove the power of strike from Union,
you are essentially remove the only teeth Union has, no?
\_ Fuck 'em.
\_ Are they allowed to quit? Is slavery legal again?
\_ in the good old days, we have no minimum wage,
no minimum age, and labor union was illegal.
Are you saying that we should go back to those days
and let iron hand of wages to do its work?
\_ Union members are allowed to terminate the employment,
while the employers aren't. Is that fair?
\_ Misrepresentation of facts. Employers are allowed to
terminate employment; they are simply required to
follow strict guidelines to ensure that they do so
in a socially just manner (i.e., not just because
you wouldn't sleep with them).
\_ isn't it fair if both sides go to binding arbitration? |
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| www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/feeds/ap/2005/12/21/ap2408180.html The city and state stepped up their pressure on striking transit workers Wednesday in hopes of forcing them back to work, and a judge said sendin g union leaders to jail was a "distinct possibility." State Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones, who is hearing several legal issues related to the strike, directed attorneys from the Transport Work ers Union to bring president Roger Toussaint and other top officials bef ore the court Thursday to answer to a criminal contempt charge. He said he may sentence the union leaders to jail for refusing to end the strike , calling such a scenario a "distinct possibility." Union lawyer Arthur Schwartz said Toussaint and the other officials are i n negotiations with mediators and that hauling them into court could hal t the talks. The possibility of jail time for union leaders was one of several develop ments Wednesday as millions of New Yorkers trudged to work in another bo ne-chilling commute without subways and buses. Michael A Cardozo, New York City's corporation counsel, asked the judge to issue an order directing union members to return to work. If the orde r is granted, Cardozo said, the city could ask for $25,000-a-day fines p er worker - a punishment that goes beyond the docked-pay penalty that wo rkers already are experiencing for the illegal strike. "We're doing everything possible to make the union obey the law," he said , adding that union members need to "realize the economic consequences o f their actions." The fines would be at the discretion of the judge, and most likely would range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars. Meanwhile, New Yorkers were out before sunrise, hoping to avoid the long lines and crushing crowds that formed at commuter rail stations during r ush hour Tuesday. Outside Penn Station, several taxis had lined up by 7 am to pick up passengers hoping to beat the rush. "A nightmare, disorganized, especially going home," Aleksandra Radakovic said Wednesday morning in describing her commute. The White House also spoke out on the strike Wednesday, saying federal me diators have offered to help end the dispute. We hop e that the two sides can resolve their differences so that the people in New York can get to where they need to go," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. On Tuesday, Jones imposed a huge fine against the Transport Workers Union - $1 million for each day of the strike; Schwartz said the fine could d eplete the union's treasury in the matter of days. In addition, the Transport Workers Union's 33,000 members already face th e loss of two days pay for every day they are on strike. That means a pr olonged strike could quickly eat up any increased pay they would get wit h a new contract. On Wednesday, Jones issued another ruling against organized labor. He ord ered that two unions representing a fraction of the transit workers be f ined $50,000 per day for one of the unions and $75,000 per day for the s econd union. Together the unions, which are part of the amalgamated Tran sit Workers Union, represent about 3,000 workers of the MTA union. Some of the strikers got an early start Wednesday, donning union placards and returning to their picket lines. Bill McRae, a bus driver since 198 5, said he thought negotiations should have continued - but he still bac ked the walkout. "The union executives called for a strike, and we have to do what we have to do," McRae said on Manhattan's West Side. Transit officials said about 1,000 transit workers came to work Tuesday, and that they were put to work cleaning and doing paperwork. As they did on the first day of the strike, throngs of pedestrians, inclu ding Mayor Michael Bloomberg, on Wednesday braced themselves against the 24-degree weather and crossed the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan. "All the transit workers have to do is listen to their international (uni on) that's urged them to go back to work, listen to the judge who ordere d them back to work, and look at their families and their own economic i nterests," he said. Nobody's above the law , and everyone should obey the law." The International TWU, the union's parent, had urged the local not to go on strike. Its president, Michael O'Brien, reiterated Tuesday that the s triking workers were legally obligated to resume working. The only way t o a contract, he said, is "not by strike but continued negotiation." Police say there have been no strike-related crimes, injuries or arrests with the exception of two minor incidents. On Tuesday night, a cab driver was arrested on the Upper East Side for al legedly assaulting a woman in his cab after they got into an argument ov er the fare. And earlier Tuesday, a police officer was accidentally bumped by a flatbed truck at a checkpoint in Q ueens. "The city is functioning, and functioning well considering the severe cir cumstances," Bloomberg said before ripping into the union. The TWU "shamefully decided they don't care about the people they work fo r, and they have no respect for the law," the mayor said. Isaac Flores, who works at a law firm in midtown, was part of a complicat ed, four-person car pool to get to work Wednesday morning. "They're too spoiled," Flores said of the transit workers. Flores traveled in a car pool with Myra Sanoguet, who saw a group of pick ets in upper Manhattan as their car drove past. "We were thinking about running them over just now," Sanoguet said. In its last offer before negotiations broke down, the MTA had proposed in creasing employee contributions to the pension plan from 2 percent to 6 percent. Union officials said that such a change would be impossible for the union to accept. "Were it not for the pension piece, we would not be out on strike," Touss aint said in an interview with NY1. "All it needs to do is take its pens ion proposal off the table." The union said the latest MTA offer included annual raises of 3 percent, 4 percent and 35 percent; the previous proposal included 3 percent rais es each year. The MTA asked the Public Employment Relations Board to formally declare a n impasse, the first step toward forcing binding arbitration of the cont ract, said James Edgar, the board's executive director. The strike was expected to cost the city hundreds of millions of dollars per day. 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| www.goer.state.ny.us/cna/bucenter/taylor.html NYS Governor's Office of Employee Relations New York State Public Employees Fair Employment Act - The Taylor Law What Is It? The Public Employees Fair Employment Act, commonly known as the Taylor La w, is a labor relations statute covering most public employees in New Yo rk State-- whether employed by the State, or by counties, cities, towns, villages, school districts, public authorities or certain special servi ce districts. It became effective September 1, 1967 and was the first co mprehensive labor relations law for public employees in the State, and a mong the first in the United States. It is the legal foundation used by GOER in its negotiations with New York State's public employee unions. The Taylor Law: * grants public employees the right to organize and to be represented b y employee organizations of their own choice; Administration Of The Taylor Law The New York State Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) was created a s an independent, neutral agency to administer the Taylor Law. The three member Board is appointed by the Governor, with the consent of the Stat e Senate. The Board's major responsibility is to act as an umpire in dis putes arising under the Taylor Law. Other responsibilities include: admi nistration of the Taylor Law statewide; de termination of employee organization responsibility for striking and ord ering forfeiture of dues and agency fee check-off privileges; and, admin istration of grievance and interest arbitration panels. Resolution of Contract Disputes Mediation: Generally under the Taylor Law there are four impasse resoluti on systems, and in each system, mediation is the required first step. Ei ther or both parties may request mediation assistance by filing a "Decla ration of Impasse" with PERB's Director of Conciliation. The mediator is appointed by the Director from PERB's full-time staff or its panel of p er diem mediators. The mediator acts as liaison between the parties, and seeks to effect a settlement through persuasion and compromise. Fact-Finding: If mediation fails to resolve the impasse, then Fact-Findin g is the next step. The fact-finder may attempt to resolve the dispute t hrough further mediation. If not, or if unsuccessful in that effort, the fact-finder then holds a hearing, takes testimony of witnesses, accepts briefs from the parties, and then makes a written, nonbinding recommend ation for settlement to both parties. The Fact-Finder then makes the rep ort and recommendations public within five days of transmission of the r eport to the parties. Binding Arbitration: For New York State Police units, the procedure is si milar to what the law provides for local police, fire fighters, and cert ain transit employees. The Taylor Law provides that if the dispute is no t resolved in mediation, PERB, on petition of either party, will general ly refer the dispute to arbitration. Arbitration for New York State Poli ce units is restricted to issues directly related to compensation and th e decision of the arbitrator is binding on both parties. Legislative Hearing: In those instances where arbitration is not permitte d, if one or both parties does not accept the fact-finding report in its entirety, then for public employees (with the exception of public emplo yees of educational institutions, police, fire fighters and certain tran sit employees) the next step is a legislative hearing. The Governor's Of fice of Employee Relations submits to the Legislature a copy of the fact -finding report plus the agency's own recommendations for resolving the dispute. The employee organization may submit its recommendations for se ttling the dispute as well. A public hearing is then conducted by the Le gislature or a legislative committee to hear the positions of both sides . The Legislature usually directs both parties to resume negotiations bu t occasionally, the legislature will choose to impose employment terms. Such imposition may be for no more than a single fiscal year. A legislat ive determination cannot change the terms of an expired agreement unless the employee organization has waived its right to stand on those terms. |
| csua.org/u/eee -> www.ilr.cornell.edu/library/research/QuestionOfTheMonth/archive/taylorLaw.html Archive Index PLEASE NOTE: The Reference Question of the Month is kept current only du ring the month for which it was written. Over time, Archived Questions will not be updated and may contain inaccurate information or broken web links. We provide archived questions as a service, since much of the i nformation will remain accurate and be of interest to the ILR community. October 2002 Q What is the Taylor Law and what resources are avilable for research o n this topic? A Formally titled the Public Employees Fair Employment Act, this New Yor k state law covering public employment relations was approved on April 2 1, 1967, effective September 1, 1967. It repealed Section 108 of the New York Civil Service Law, commonly referred to as the Condon-Wadlin Law. Under the law, public employees are prohibited from striking and penalti es for violation are levied against the union and employees involved. Th e popular title of the law owes its origins to the commission appointed by Governor Nelson Rockefeller and chaired by George W Taylor of the Wh arton School of Finance and Commerce, University of Pennsylvania. This provides annotated texts and digests of laws and regulati ons adopted by the 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia in the fields of labor relations and employment regulation. |
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