cairo flunkie kevin mccaffrey happily bets that nassau otb employees do not bump into walls let alone read what might be posted on them?
contract was signed in 2008 nobel prize in physics awarded to otb for stopping time
New York's new voting law has a costly three-hour provision
Legislature should re-evaluate part of the law in January.
A Long Island Rail Road train pulls up to the platform at Penn Station on Friday. Photo Credit: Craig Ruttle
The Long Island Rail Road didn’t have much of a choice when it offered some union workers overtime pay in order to keep the trains running on June 25’s primary Election Day.
The LIRR had offered all of its employees — in accordance with a recently revised state law — the chance to take three hours of paid time off that day to go vote in a handful of local races, with the biggest one being the Democratic primary for Queens district attorney. Just days before the vote, hundreds of workers took the LIRR up on its offer.
But the railroad was ill-prepared to deal with a sudden and massive loss of workers, and would have had to cancel trains. So, the LIRR offered overtime as an incentive for employees to work those hours, while encouraging them to vote either before or after their shifts.
That move of three hours free overtime, especially against a backdrop of reports of LIRR overtime abuses, was unfortunate and costly. And oddly, neither Metro-North Railroad nor New York City Transit saw the same intense interest in voting in mostly obscure low-turnout races. Despite the surge of civic involvement, the LIRR could have been better prepared to handle this, since the law has been in place since April. Unfortunately overtime became the only valid option. A slew of canceled trains would have been far worse.
However, the LIRR fiasco highlights a far larger problem, one that will affect every employer across the state come November. The expanded voting law is broadly written, and seemingly allows any worker for any size employer to take three hours of paid time off at the beginning or the end of shifts on Election Day. Workers only have to give an employer two working days’ notice. And, there is no requirement that the employee actually vote, or that there is even a election in which they are eligible to vote; nor does it matter whether a worker’s shift coincides with voting hours.
The potential consequences are enormous. Come November, canceled LIRR trains would be the least of it. All employers would have to pay for replacement workers to cover certain shifts or maintain staffing. Voting is a right and civic duty, but taxpayers and commuters shouldn’t have to pay through the nose for someone to do it.
And LIRR management, along with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority more broadly, must come up with a better game plan on how to handle November’s Election Day so operations are not disrupted. Other employers should take note, and the state Board of Elections will provide guidance to employers. That could help.
For the long term, the MTA should address voting time provisions in collective bargaining agreements. But in January, lawmakers must revisit this law; a tightening of provisions, and which employers, workers and circumstances they apply to, would help. There will be 10 days of early voting this November, and the rules for obtaining an absentee ballot are easier. That should help people who can’t vote on a Tuesday.
Making voting easier and providing the time for it are welcome. But a blanket three-hour time-off law must be re-evaluated. — The editorial board
No comments:
Post a Comment