Andrew Cuomo can't count or spell free or the OTBs would be open 365

days of the year when tracks are running all across the United States that people want to bet!

NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3  not every read by Andrew Cuomo m

Editorial

A Bad Union Vote

Published: September 29, 2011

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration sent notices on Wednesday to 3,496 state employees that their jobs would be eliminated in 21 days. For that bad news, the workers can thank their union. On Tuesday, the New York State Public Employees Federation, representing 56,000 state employees, rejected a fair five-year contract that would have frozen base wages for three years and raised employee contributions to health coverage.

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• As State Issues Layoff Notices, Union’s Leaders Stand by Vote Against a Contract (September 29, 2011)

Union leaders should ask the membership to vote again. They would be wise to agree to the concessions that the Civil Service Employees Association, representing 66,000 other state workers, already accepted and make sense in this economy. The contract includes 2 percent wage increases in the fourth and fifth years and comes with a promise of no layoffs for the next two years. There would be modest automatic pay increases for most workers. But the employee health care contribution, which has not changed in 30 years, would rise to 31 percent from 25 percent for higher-paid workers with family coverage; lower-paid workers would face a smaller increase.
The union leaders have said that they want to return to the bargaining table, a step the Cuomo administration should resist. Renegotiating with the Public Employees Federation would probably mean revisiting the contract with the Civil Service Employees Association.
Federation members grumbled that it is unfair for Governor Cuomo to demand sacrifices from them while giving wealthier New Yorkers a break by allowing a surcharge on higher-income earners to expire at the end of the year. Mr. Cuomo should work to extend that tax. But that issue does not affect the need to contain state labor costs, a reality that other public unions have accepted.