By Hunter Walker 3/15/12 8:46am

Night of the Living Deals

Governor Cuomo (Photo: Getty)

Pension Reform Deal Draws Praise From Bloomberg And Cuomo, Anger From Unions

Albany’s “Night of the Living Deals” included the passage of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s pension reform plan for public employees. Both the governor and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, perhaps the most high profile supporter of Tier VI, released statements praising the passage of the proposal.

“This bold and transformational pension reform plan is a historic win for New York taxpayers and municipalities that will save more than $80 billion over the next 30 years, while preserving retirement security for public workers. Without this critical reform, New Yorkers would have seen significant tax increases, as well as layoffs to teachers, firefighters and police,” Mr. Cuomo said. Read More

By Hunter Walker 3/13/12 12:22pm

Pension-apalooza

Peter Abbate (Photo: NYS Assembly)

Lawmakers Push For Legislation To Allow AG To Go After Pension Fund Fraudsters

Against the backdrop of the contentious turf war over Governor Andrew Cuomo’s pension reform plan, a trio of Democratic Assemblyman and several labor leaders are calling for passage of the Institutional Investor Recovery Act. This legislation would allow the Attorney General to seek damages and recoveries when public pension funds suffer losses due to securities fraud. Currently, the Martin Act gives the Attorney General broad powers to prosecute securities fraud, but it does not allow the State to recover losses on behalf of public pension funds. Pursuing losses from financial firms is a favored topic of opponents of the governor’s pension reform push who argue the focus should be on penalizing Wall Street firms that lost money from the pension fund rather than cutting benefits.

“All the focus on the issue of pensions has been on the benefit side of the equation. We need to look at what happened on the investment side. It simply doesn’t make sense that the pension funds have no practical way to recover investment losses caused by fraud,” said Assemblyman Peter Abbate the lead sponsor of the bill to update the Martin Act. Read More

By Hunter Walker 3/12/12 9:11am

Tier VI

An inflatable pig at a past union protest. (Photo: UnionMaine.org)

AFSCME Plans To Greet Albany Lawmakers With Anti-Pension Reform Inflatable Pig Protest

Legislators are returning to work at the Capitol in Albany after four days out of session and, on their way back, they’ll be greeted by a “giant inflatable Wall Street pig” named “1%.” AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, announced their intention to stage the porcine protest against Governor Andrew Cuomo’s pension reform proposal in a statement sent out yesterday.

“’1%,’ a giant cigar-chomping Wall Street pig will be making his debut and welcoming politicians back to Albany. The pig, “1%,” is named after the greedy Wall Street special interests and large corporations in the one percent that willingly distort the facts, and outright lie in order to promote Tier 6— Governor Cuomo’s 40% pension-cutting scheme,” the statement said. Read More

By Colin Campbell 3/09/12 4:00pm

tier 99%

(Photo: Getty)

Occupy Pensions Coming To Zuccotti Park

Opposing Governor Andrew Cuomo’s pension plan is about to come to Zuccotti Park.

One of New York’s public employee unions,  the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, is holding a “Tier It Down!” rally tomorrow afternoon against  Governor Cuomo’s “Tier 6″ proposal, where new employees would receive scaled down pension benefits in an effort to curb costs. Read More

By Hunter Walker 3/09/12 10:49am

Tier VI

Mayor Bloomberg (Photo: Getty)

Mayor Bloomberg Comes To Cuomo’s Aid In Pension Reform Fight

Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared on Fred Dicker’s radio show, “Live From The State Capitol,” to discuss Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Tier VI pension reform proposal. Despite rumors of a strained relationship between hizzoner and the governor, Mayor Bloomberg, who was joined by Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings, praised the push for pension reform and blasted legislators who are trying to block Tier VI.

“Our message is that we have an expense that none of us can afford; pension costs that were voted by the Legislature are just destroying the budgets from one end of New York State to the other,” Mayor Bloomberg said. Read More

By Hunter Walker 3/08/12 2:09pm

labor

Governor Andrew Cuomo (Photo: Getty)

Governor Cuomo Says He Can’t Negotiate Pension Reform With Public Employee Unions

In a Q&A session with reporters after the cabinet meeting today Governor Andrew Cuomo discussed the state of his push to reform the pension system for public workers. Governor Cuomo was asked about legislators who are demanding he negotiate the reforms with the unions and get them to agree to a plan, but he was adamant that there’s nothing to negotiate and the unions are inherently opposed to reform.

“We just finished negotiating quote-un-quote with our public employee unions; salaries, benefits, et cetera when we did contracts. The contracts were ratified. Pensions are not subject to collective bargaining negotiations, so you can’t negotiate a pension in the collective bargaining. If you just finished negotiating a contract and someone says, ‘Well, go negotiate the pension with the unions and I’ll only pass pension reform if the union agrees,’ there’s nothing left to negotiate with the union,” Governor Cuomo said. “By definition, the unions don’t want a reform that would diminish pension benefits, so the answer’s always going to be, ‘No.’” Read More

By Colin Campbell 1/26/12 6:51pm

Union Fight

(Photo: Wikimedia)

Cablevision Votes to Unionize in Brooklyn [Updated]

After a contentious dispute, Cablevision’s Brooklyn workforce voted to unionize with the Communication Workers of America. The union blasted out a press release touting the results. CWA says that they are the first Cablevision workers to join a union and that “cable TV is an overwhelmingly non-union industry while the traditional telecommunications industry remains highly unionized.”

Needless to say, union officials are extremely happy. “Over the past few months these courageous workers withstood a blistering assault on their right to form a union,” CWA District One Vice President, Chris Shelton, said. “Cablevision truly took the low road by pressuring workers with endless amounts misinformation, but these workers–backed by countless community leaders and elected officials–stood strong. Now we will bargain collectively for a contract that gives the Cablevision 99% equity and dignity on the job.” Read More

By Hunter Walker 1/20/12 6:15pm

Beef

TWU Local 100 President telling reporters the MTA engaged in "bad-faith bargaining" by negotiating in the press. (Photo: Local 11)

TWU Local 100 Accuses MTA of ‘Shocking Violation of Good Faith Negotiating Practices’

Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents the people who operate the city’s subways and buses, has pulled out of contract talks with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. In a statement released today about their departure from the bargaining table, Local 100 accused the MTA of “negotiating in the press” in “a shocking violation of good faith negotiation tactics.”

“Negotiations were to resume on Thursday, January 19. That morning, an article appeared in the NY Daily News presenting givebacks that the MTA would be asking for at the meeting. This was a shocking violation of good faith negotiating practices and of a specific agreement with management to refrain from negotiating in the press,” the statement said. “This move, the second time in three days that management had seeded the press with its claims, poisoned the atmosphere for negotiations. Local 100 presented its protest and then cancelled the remainder of the bargaining session in order to clear the air before negotiations continued.”

TWU’s statement didn’t just accuse the MTA of planting the story. It also said the information contained in the story was inaccurate. Read More

By Hunter Walker 1/18/12 7:51am

MTA

TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen. (Photo: YouTube)

Transit Tango

As the Giants fought the Packers in the divisional playoffs Sunday evening, another battle was unfolding at the Sheraton Hotel in Midtown, where the Metropolitan Transportation Authority held an all-night session of contract negotiations with the Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents the people who operate the city’s subways and buses.

Outside the hotel, the union held a raucous rally, where hundreds of members gathered in the freezing cold to hear their president, John Samuelsen, give a defiant speech about the contract talks. A pair of big-screen TVs broadcast the football game to the crowd. In addition to the winter chill and periodic cheers for the Giants, the threat of a crippling transit strike hung heavy in the air. Read More