politicians know little about either work or railroads.
The contract of Nassau OTB workers expired over seven years ago. There are many changes that might be made.A Suffolk County Legislator is the President of the union that represents Nassau OTB employees.
Protection money = union days?
LIRR union: MTA 'spit in face' of contract process
The MTA said Thursday if it cannot reach a deal
with Long Island Rail Road unions soon, it will ask the White House to
intervene, averting a strike threatening to shut down the nation's
largest rail system next month. (Credit: News 12 Long Island)
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One day after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced that it would avert a March strike by asking the White House, if necessary, to appoint a second Presidential Emergency Board to recommend a settlement, members of several railroad, transit and state worker unions accused the MTA of playing fast and loose with workers' livelihoods -- and the commutes of 300,000 daily LIRR riders.
"This is unprecedented and reckless behavior," said LIRR union spokesman Joel Parker, who blasted the MTA's rejecting the recommendations of a first presidential board of mediators, which proposed raises for workers of 2.83 percent over six years, but did not call for any of the work-rule concessions that the MTA has demanded.
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The MTA has said the board's recommendations would force the agency to either steeply raise fares, borrow billions, neglect pension and health care liabilities for retirees, or slash capital spending.
"If something is so clearly favoring the proposals of one side against the other, I think no one would expect that we would accept it," MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg said Friday.
But union officials noted that the MTA has supported the findings of a Presidential Emergency Board when they have ruled in its favor, including in a 2008 contract dispute with Metro-North Railroad unions. In that case, the unions agreed to a contract based on that board's recommendations. Parker said it was the first time he had seen a rail carrier "spit in the face" of a board's recommendations.
"You can't have it both ways," said John Samuelson, president of the Transport Workers Union Local 100, representing bus and subway workers.
Union officials noted that they didn't get everything they wanted in the board's recommendations, which would require LIRR workers, for the first time, to contribute to health care costs.
"We feel we deserve better, but we respect the board's findings," said Anthony Simon, general chairman of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Union, the LIRR's largest labor organization. "We do not want to go on strike."
The unions held a "legislative briefing" in Brooklyn aimed at explaining the nearly four-year-long contract impasse to state and federal lawmakers.
State Sen. John Flanagan (R-East Northport) said he heard the unions make "cogent points" at the meeting.
"There is no real reason why they can't have a fair, negotiated settlement," Flanagan said.
Long Island Business News
Suffolk,
Nassau
OTB probe ethics conflict
by David Winzelberg
Published: November 24th, 2013
At least one employee of Nassau County Off-Track Betting is questioning whether the head of his employee union, a member-elect of the Suffolk County Legislature, should have a say in Suffolk OTB business.
Teamsters Local
707 President
Kevin McCaffery, whose union represents about 200 Nassau OTB
workers,
was elected earlier this month to serve as a Suffolk
legislator
representing the 14th District. In a letter last week, Nassau
OTB
cashier Jackson Leeds alerted the Suffolk County Ethics Board
to
McCaffery’s possible conflict of interest.
“As a Suffolk County legislator, his duties are to the people
of
Suffolk County,” Leeds wrote. “He cannot simultaneously
represent the
interests of employees of Nassau OTB, a Nassau County public
benefit
corporation.”
McCaffery told LIBN he doesn’t think the two counties’ OTBs
are in
competition with each other and he doesn’t see his role as
union leader
for Nassau OTB workers as a conflict with issues surrounding
Suffolk
OTB.
“If anything, I have the background of dealing with Nassau
OTB, which
gives me more insight on the subject than any other legislator
out
there,” McCaffery said.
When asked if the legislator-elect’s union job appeared to be
a
conflict of interest, Nassau OTB chief Joseph Cairo said, “If
you
really want to stretch it. But I don’t see anything that’s
apparent to
me.”
Cairo added that he’ll instruct the Nassau agency’s counsel to
review
the situation.
Leeds, a 10-year veteran of Nassau OTB, complained that both
union
officials and county OTB management have been too focused on
the 1,000
video lottery terminals planned for each county’s OTB and
they’re not
paying enough attention to current operations.
“They never worked behind a window,” Leeds told LIBN. “They’re
out of
touch with the bettors of Nassau County.”
Internet wagering and dwindling handles – the overall money
being
wagered – have prompted a consolidation in Nassau OTB’s
operations in
recent years; there were 15 betting offices in Nassau in 2003,
and now
there are eight. Suffolk OTB, which has seven branch offices,
filed for
bankruptcy last year.
These days, according to some analysts, OTB offices exist
largely for
political patronage – another reason, according to Leeds, that
the
Nassau union chief shouldn’t mix one business with the other.
“Union leaders should not be politicians,” he said. “OTBs are
run by
politicians. Being political and doing public good aren’t
always
incompatible, but they often are.”
This isn’t the first time a Long Island legislator’s OTB ties
have
become an issue.
In May 2000, Gregory Peterson, then-president of the Nassau
OTB, sued
to prevent Nassau County Leg. Roger Corbin from voting on
appointments
to the Nassau OTB’s board of directors. Because Corbin was
employed as
a branch manager for New York City OTB and a member of
Teamsters Local
858, which then represented all employees of Nassau OTB,
Peterson
alleged Corbin’s legislative role posed a conflict of
interest.
A New York Supreme Court judge issued an injunction preventing
Corbin
from voting on OTB appointments, but Corbin appealed and the
lower
court’s decision was reversed. The Nassau County Board of
Ethics also
chimed in, determining by a 3-2 vote that voting on OTB
appointments
didn’t create a conflict because Corbin didn’t influence
policy or
engage in labor negotiations.
With McCaffery, some observers say it’s best to proceed with
caution.
Anthony Figliola, vice president of Uniondale-based government
relations firm Empire
Government
Strategies, said the legislator-elect may want to recuse
himself
from any votes concerning Suffolk OTB until the Suffolk County
Ethics
Board offers an opinion.
“OTB is a political football,” Figliola said. “It’s better to
stay out
of it, especially if you want to get things done in the
Legislature.”
Executive Board
January 21, 2010 Local 707 Executive board is sworn in for another 3 year term by General IBT President James P. Hoffa
Kevin McCaffrey
John Zirpoli
Larry Cinque
Tom Hogan
Daniel Pacheco ~ Charles Pane ~ Mike Mc Elroy
Local 707 Highway Motor Freight
is located at
14 Front Street ~ 3rd Floor
Hempstead, NY 11550
Local 707 Upstate Union Office
is located at 948 Homestead Avenue Route 208 Maybrook, NY 12543 |
Telephone Numbers
Hempstead LI Office
Main Number: (516)486-7100
Local Union: (516)560-8509
Local Union Fax: (516)486-7164
Upstate Union Office
Main Number: (845)427-2000
Upstate Union Fax: (845)427-5507
Health, Welfare & Pension
Funds Office
Main Number: 1-800-366-3707
Funds Fax: (516)486-7375
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