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Thread: Unions vow to challenge control board

  1. #1
    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    Unions vow to challenge control board

    A legal fight is "imminent" to challenge the sweeping powers of a state control board that will oversee Buffalo's finances, the head of the city police union said Tuesday.
    As Common Council members began dissecting the state legislation that sets the oversight board powers, some questioned whether four union contracts that lawmakers unanimously approved Tuesday are valid. The labor agreements will give raises to more than 2,200 firefighters, police officers, white-collar workers, operating engineers and other city employees.

    "What we did today could be null and void," said Fillmore Council Member David A. Franczyk, citing a clause that gives the board the power to suspend existing labor agreements. "I think the contracts could all be undone."

    But the police union president maintained that a controversial contract that awards officers substantial raises in return for agreeing to one-officer cars and other work rule changes was finalized before the control board was established last week.

    Robert P. Meegan Jr. noted that the Council unanimously approved the agreement in April, claiming Tuesday's vote was merely a reaffirmation of its earlier support. His position was backed by Masiello administration officials.

    Meegan left the Council session indicating that the union is laying the groundwork for a likely legal challenge over the board's powers.

    "We're prepared if necessary to go to court immediately to protect the interests of officers," he said. "We're concerned about the authority the control board will have. If the city implements one-officer cars, then the control board comes in and pulls the rug out from under us, that would be a problem."

    The nine-member Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority will be composed of five members appointed by the governor. The state comptroller, mayor and county executive will each have one appointment, while the remaining seat will be filled by an appointee of the State Assembly and Senate. It would be the most powerful control board in New York history.

    One key provision would allow the board to impose its own financial plan in the event it rejects the city's proposal and officials fail to make revisions. Joseph E. Foley, president of Buffalo Professional Firefighters, is worried this could result in an outside oversight panel making decisions that affect public safety.

    Some officials were stunned this week to learn that the control board also will have the clout to suspend or remove from office city officials who refuse to comply with the financial plan. Offenders could even be charged with misdemeanor crimes.

    "This thing is like living in Russia," said Foley of the state control board legislation. "If the elected people don't agree with closing firehouses, (the control board) has the power to unseat Council members or even charge them with misdemeanors? What is this, Nazi Germany?"

    Council President James W. Pitts described the control board's broad powers as "ominous and threatening." He predicted that unions across the state will mount court challenges to overturn the legislation.

    "They're playing with fire," said Pitts of state officials. "Instead of coming in and working to build a consensus around a financial plan, they come in here in a threatening way."

    Foley complained that the powers of the board are so broad, they could make Buffalo's elected officials rubber stamps.

    "Masiello and the Council may as well pack their bags and go to Florida, because they won't have a say," said Foley, who met with members of the fire union's executive committee Tuesday night to discuss the control board.

    Even some officials who haven't been especially vocal against the control board's intervention raised concerns Tuesday. Niagara Council Member Dominic Bonifacio Jr. said he has "no problem" with a nine-member oversight panel scrutinizing city expenditures over $50,000.

    "But they need to let us legislate. If they don't, they should give us all part-time jobs," he said.

    Assembly Majority Leader Paul A. Tokasz, D-Cheektowaga, and State Senator Dale M. Volker, R-Depew - who were among those involved in control board discussions - could not be reached to comment Tuesday.

    Some Council members said they approved the union contracts because they include concessions in health care insurance, work rule changes and other provisions that pave the way for "restructuring" city government.

    Human Resources Commissioner Leonard A. Matarese said the police contract was only resubmitted as supplementary information to accompany salary ordinance amendments that the Council also unanimously approved at Tuesday's three-hour meeting.

    The police pact has been criticized by some for being too costly for the city. Patrol officers will see their salaries increase by more than $13,000 over four years, including a $5,000 raise retroactive to July 1, 2002. In return, the union has agreed to one-officer cars and more-flexible scheduling.

    The Masiello administration insists the agreement will save the city millions of dollars within a few years, as the size of the police force is reduced by more than 200 through attrition. However, those reductions assume that more than one-fifth of all officers will retire, and some have branded that a risky assumption.

    After Tuesday's meeting, officials from the police union repeatedly warned of the likelihood of a court fight over what union attorney W. James Schwan called the "constitutionality" of the control board's powers.

    "We've already contacted a few law professors, and we plan on talking with others in the near future," he said.

    The Council also approved a plan that will see the Erie County Holding Center take over the city Police Department's cellblock operations. The plan has been in the discussion stages for about three years. The vote was 9-4, with some Council members raising concerns that there are "hidden costs" that will make the agreement imprudent in the long run.


    e-mail: bmeyer@buffnews.com

    This was pulled from www.buffnews.com

    http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial...25/1012102.asp

  2. #2
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    3 yrs later

    and the same things are being looked at. Meegan was dead on with his predictions. I can't believe it has already been 3 yrs, seems like yesterday.

  3. #3
    Unregistered Cgoodsp466's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Deerhunter
    and the same things are being looked at. Meegan was dead on with his predictions. I can't believe it has already been 3 yrs, seems like yesterday.
    Where does the money come from ?

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