NORWICH – This year’s budget for labor relations is overdrawn as a result of the now 2 1/2 year-long contract dispute with the unions representing Chenango County’s law enforcement deputies and corrections officers.
The personnel department depleted $11,000 earmarked for 2012 in April and received an additional $15,000 from contingency in May. The situation was the same last year at about this time. So far, the stand off has cost the county an estimated $89,000, said Clerk of the Board RC Woodford.
Negotiators representing Chenango County, the Law Enforcement Association and a Public Employee Relations Board-appointed chairman met outside the county in executive session recently to hear evidence and records from an LEA arbitration hearing that was held in late January. New York State Union of Police Associations President Anthony V. Solfaro said he did not know the results of the hearing, but said there will eventually be a draft of an award followed by possible dissenting opinions. Once filed, the contract amount will stand for only two years before negotiations begin all over again.
The next step for the Chenango County Sheriff’s Employee’s Association, which covers corrections officers and corrections staff, is fact finding. A fact finder has been appointed and a hearing set for Aug. 15 in the County Office Building, Solfaro said. The moderator will listen to testimony, post a hearing brief, and issue a findings and recommendations reports to the parties.
“Then they have to look at it, and see what they agree with or don’t agree with before getting to a potential negotiated settlement,” said Solfaro. The SEA by statute is ineligible for interest arbitration.
Members of the Chenango County Finance Committee took time out recently to discuss a possible resolution to the disputes. Chairman Wayne Outwater, who headed up the Personnel Committee for several years, said the county can’t agree with the unions’ representative, and LEA and CCSEA employees must be feeling the stress.
“They haven’t been paid yet. As we pay these legal fees, they pay, too,” Outwater, R-Lincklaen, said.
Supervisor Dennis Brown, D-Pharsalia, recalled once settling a highly-contested, school district budget contract without negotiators. He described the effort, which happened years ago, saying it took about three hours, involved tempers “flying up and back down,” but that a deal was finally struck.
“The school board probably gave the teachers more than we wanted and they accepted less than they wanted. That’s called negotiating. It took less time and was an example of good will. Hired negotiators want disputes to go on and on because they make out on both sides,” he said at a meeting of the Finance Committee in May.
“In the future, we should write a letter to union people and say let’s sit down and hammer out a contract agreement before you bring in your hired guns. I’ve got to believe in these difficult times, with no raises in most municipalities, it would be a good idea to do that.”