Teamsters Drop Appeal, Concede To Open Collective Bargaining In Lincoln County
February 14, 2017
DAVENPORT, Wash. – Attorneys for Teamsters Local 690 on Monday announced they would not appeal an earlier ruling issued by the Washington Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) in favor of Lincoln County after commissioners there approved a resolution to open collective bargaining sessions to the public.
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.”
The union's original complaint, filed last fall, alleged the resolution constituted an unfair labor practice. But PERC rejected that argument in late January, ruling there was nothing in state law, the constitution or Lincoln County's existing contract with county employees that prevented future negotiations from being open to the public.
The Teamsters filed a notice of appeal on Jan. 30, but sent a two-sentence letter to PERC Director Mike Sellars on Monday withdrawing that appeal.
The action eliminates the last legal hurdle and allows the commissioners to keep their promise to the community to be more transparent.
"We applaud the Lincoln County commissioners for their courage in seeing this through to its inevitable conclusion," said David Dewhirst, litigation counsel for the Freedom Foundation, which wrote the model resolution approved by the county and represented the commissioners during the complaint and appeal process.
"They understand what too few elected officials in this state do – that their first responsibility is to the people they represent, not union special interests," Dewhirst said.
The commissioners began considering the transparency idea last fall as a way to help sell Lincoln County residents on a tax increase to pay for increased law enforcement. The Freedom Foundation had already drafted a model resolution and sent it to the County months before, so the commissioners were equipped with the policy tools they needed to adopt and implement the transparency resolution in October.
"Open negotiations are the norm in other states where public-sector unions' influence isn't as pervasive," Dewhirst said. "Which is why the Teamsters first threatened the County and then tried to bog it down with this legal action. Public-sector unions in Washington believe that this common-sense transparency reform diminishes their power in some way."
"But it didn't work," he said. "Open contract negotiations may be rare in Washington, but they're not illegal. And the Freedom Foundation has made clear that it will support counties and local governments that are bullied by union bosses. We look forward now to other jurisdictions following Lincoln County's lead and doing the right thing for their constituents, too."
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