Spin Cycle
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Adam Barsky, chairman of a state oversight board in control of Nassau’s finances, is turning up the heat on the county and its labor unions as the panel seeks detailed copies of all existing collective bargaining agreements.
Barsky wrote last week to the heads of all six county unions urging that they “cooperate” with the county in compiling comprehensive copies of the agreements.
“NIFA will not review the terms or participate in any negotiations of new collective bargaining agreements unless the county and unions have executed agreements that they can use as a point of departure/reference,” Barsky wrote. Most county labor contracts expire at the end of 2017.
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Jerry Laricchiuta, president of the Civil Service Employees Association, said some of the CBA documents date back to the 1980s and 1990s and are difficult to find.
“We are working with the county and are willing to do what we can,” Laricchiuta said. “But ultimately the onus is on the county to attest that these documents are complete,”
NIFA officials complain that side letters, arbitration awards, settlement agreements and memorandums of understandings related to current labor deals are scattershot and have never been compiled in one summary.
The board gave the county until March 31 to turn over the documents, but Barsky has extended the deadline until the end of April. Barsky said the county has made a “good faith effort” to cooperate, but that they must get on the same page with the unions.
“This is the largest expense in Nassau County,” Barsky said in an interview. “How do we begin talking about the new agreements when we don’t know the contents of the current agreements?”
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A spokesman for County Executive Edward Mangano did not respond to a request for comment.