I’m one of the 3496 Unionized New York State Employees Andrew Cuomo is laying off. Haven’t heard of us? I wouldn’t be surprised. The media doesn’t seem to care too much. We’re just numbers on some sheet — and that’s if they even run the story. Heck, we can’t even seem to get sympathy from our fellow Unions. No, I wouldn’t be surprised if you hadn’t heard of us.
As I see it, this story started a year ago when Andrew Cuomo was running against Carl Paladino in the race to be New York’s next Governor. In October of 2010, Cuomo stated in the New York Times that he felt that big business was under represented in New York’s government. In the same article, he announced that, if elected, he would take on the Unions — saying they were “too strong”. Regardless of this shot across their bow, the New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF) endorsed Cuomo for Governor. When I personally challenged Ken Brynian, the Union President, about the endorsement, I was told that PEF needed to have a “ball in the game”. I later learned that that PEF leadership claimed the Union’s constitution required this endorsement if they were to have access to Cuomo. Personally, I believe it’s institutionalized bribery.
PEF didn’t have a chance. Although they did give money to Cuomo for his election, there were bigger puppet masters in play. Cuomo was also accepting huge donations from the Koch brothers. Yes, that is correct. The Koch brothers — the very same ones who have had their hands in re-segregating southern schools and illegally making profits through sales to Iran — were kicking Andrew Cuomo more campaign funds than they were sending Governor Walker of Wisconsin. PEF never had a say. With Cuomo’s big money donors and the fact he was running against a hate-filled clown, he won the election hands down and started his agenda of making big business ascendant and the Unions subservient.
His first action was to refuse to extend New York’s “Millionaires Tax”. Then, he announced he wouldn’t raise taxes, that the State was in a deficit and that he had come up with how much flesh he intended to extract from the Unions — $450 Million. He then hired a contract negotiation team that would more accurately be described as a contact “demand” team and set about forcing the Unions to concede to his wishes.
First up to bat was Council 82 — who represented aspects of law enforcement. When Cuomo tried to force his contract on to them, they rebelled and the membership voted it down. So angered by their leadership in accepting the Cuomo contract, the membership voted to decertify Council 82 and form a new Union to represent their interests. Council 82 barely survived. The situation for these people has yet to be resolved and it is my understanding Cuomo hasn’t restarted negotiations with them — even though they’ve been without a contract for 6, going on 7, years.
Undaunted, Cuomo took a similar proposal to CSEA, New York’s largest public employee union. With little public discussion and after a questionable voting process where the CSEA’s contract negotiation team counted the ballots, CSEA ratified the Cuomo contract. Only about 40% of their membership voted.
Next, Cuomo turned to PEF. I don’t know what was said or done but I do know that what our negotiators offered was never considered and we, too, were given the Council 82/CSEA contract. Unhappy with the treatment they were receiving from the Governor, the PEF leadership scheduled a rally to voice their displeasure. It was an embarrassment. First, it is said that CSEA’s President, Danny Donohue, instructed his Union — which used to stand in solidarity with PEF — not to participate in the rally. Then, PEF’s own membership couldn’t be bothered to participate. I was there. While PEF likes to claim 1200 people showed up, my count was closer to the 200 or 300 range. I then knew we were in trouble. PEF’s membership was either apathetic or afraid.
The closed-door negotiation process concluded and the PEF negotiation team prepared to educate the membership on the contents. Unfortunately, they were not prepared for the onslaught of members refusing to vote for it — even before they knew what was in it. While some had principled reasons to vote “no”, many only voted to protect themselves. “Solidarity be damned! I want a fat pension!” these angry “no” voters said in many different ways. There were completely false spreadsheets purporting to show how people will loose ridiculous amounts of money if the contract passed around to prove the point. I’d call it pious fraud but it wasn’t pious in any way. Conspiracy-laden ideas about PEF members loosing health insurance and how Cuomo was going to privatize the entire workforce through governmental restructuring were tossed in to the mix as well. The vote came. Unprepared and out maneuvered on two fronts, the PEF leadership couldn’t convince the membership to ratify the contract.
The vote failed on a Tuesday. Wednesday, Cuomo laid off 3496 people.
It’s that simple. We were given 21 days to start our lives over or go on unemployment insurance. However, Cuomo did the firings in a way that is intended to protect CSEA members — as they had already approved their contract and it contained layoff protections. The end result is many people in unique and important positions got laid off. Using myself as an example, I work for the New York State Environmental Laboratory Approval Program (ELAP) in the New York State Asbestos Laboratory. There are three of us in the lab. How many people are need to perform the duties of the laboratory? I think you’ve guessed the number already — 3. When I go, the Asbestos Laboratory will not be able to produce the test samples that go out to the environmental laboratories that test the samples from schools, construction sites, and homes for asbestos. Our program is mandated by law and if those samples aren’t sent out, the labs can’t be scored. If the labs can’t be scored, they can’t be approved to do analysis in New York. If they can’t analyze New York samples….well, I guess kids breathing in asbestos isn’t really that big of a deal. Is it? This doesn’t just apply to commercial laboratories either, my lab wouldn’t be able to do the analysis as well. I guess Cuomo and Department of Health Commissioner Shah don’t care about kids being exposed to asbestos if they’re willing to let the program shut down. One other thing I do (besides applied and basic research) was “white powder” analysis. Remember those threatening powders and unknown substances that get sent to people in the mail or show up in a mall from time to time? I’m one of the people who test those samples. I reason that must not be a priority either.
I’m not anything special. Cuomo has targeted others who, like myself, when they leave will cripple or shut down their programs. Why? Because we were easy targets. Because we have unique titles for specialized positions and we didn’t impact CSEA members.
While all of this is sinking in, I tried my level best to make the administration of the DOH labs aware of the problem. I didn’t want my career to end and I didn’t want the program to end. I was told there was nothing they could do. Sleeping through the night, I soon found, became a luxury.
Cuomo then refused to return to negotiations and insisted PEF re-vote the contract that had just been shot down. Brynian demanded Cuomo return to negotiations and that PEF had alterations to the contract that would make it tolerable to the membership. Cuomo said nothing for a day but then went on the radio and to the press saying he was open to changes. Meanwhile, the 3495 grew more anxious and scared. I, effectively, lost my ability to sleep through the night and depression became my partner. Being a single dad, my daughter and I are very close. Even though she is only 4 years old, she could tell something was wrong.
Then PEF worked something out and sent over a document that they thought Cuomo would accept. They said that they would have an answer by the following Friday. The Friday before Columbus Day. The clock tick, tick, ticked away as the 3496 watched the television and scoured the Internet for any news that might give them some relief and let them know a compromise had been reached. During this, the “no” voters escalated their voices into a shrill scream of “I’ll vote no again and again!” and repeated the discredited lies and re-voiced their conspiracy theories.
Friday came and went with no news. Columbus Day was not a holiday; it was torture. No sleep. No rest. No reprieve from the apathy on the general Labor Union side, the hatred on the “no” voter side, the false promises from the PEF side, and certainly no shelter from Cuomo’s layoffs.
But there was a glimmer of hope. PEF had an Executive Board meeting scheduled the Tuesday following Columbus Day. Perhaps, there would be something to feel good about for a change. Maybe we weren’t going to be martyrs to a politician’s Presidential aspirations or the greed of near-retirement PEF members! Maybe, just maybe, there was common ground! Our hopes were smashed when the meeting was canceled and Brynian stated he believed Cuomo had walked away from the negotiations.
I wish I could sleep. I really do. I would stop me from worrying about my daughter and whether I’ll be able to afford my apartment. I wish I could do my job. That’s all I want. I wonder if my education amounted to nothing. I wonder if the work I dedicated my career to was a mistake in the first place. I had given up a good paying commercial position half way across the country to take the job because I felt it was the right thing to do. I work to benefit the people of New York — my home state and where my family has lived since the early 1700s. Now, it seems that after 9 and a half years of service, I’m being rewarded by being tossed out in the street by a sociopathic Governor, inept Union leadership, and greedy Union members. Would I do it again if I had the chance? I think I would but I’m no longer 100% certain. Like I said, it’s the right thing to do. However, I wouldn’t recommend anyone else do the same.
There’s a very good chance your work won’t be appreciated.