LABOR COMMUNITY IS FIGHTING BACK; SOLIDARITY RALLY IS PLANNED FOR MARCH 2

Rochester, N.Y.-- As the country slowly emerges from the recession, cash-strapped states and public employees are on somewhat of a collision course. The prolonged, targeted assault on middle class workers by the rich and the corporations they own are now being played out in the statehouses and main streets across our great nation.

Inspired by the events in Wisconsin, thousands of Americans all over the country are taking action to battle legislation that would attack their labor rights, defund their schools, threaten their health and safety, and decimate the American middle class.  Protests and rallies to support middle class workers are cropping up all over the United States.

New York union leaders are closely watching events in Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio — where Republican governors are seeking not just drastic cuts in benefits and pay, but also a reshaping of the historic relationship between management and public-sector labor.

The noisy protests in Wisconsin have been in response to Gov. Scott Walker's attempts to scale back collective bargaining rights for public workers.

Such drastic measures are not expected in New York, but the Wisconsin protests have helped re-ignite a flame in the heart of labor activists from Buffalo to Montauk Point.

Media folk and those who have a vested interest are stirring up debate over the role of a highly unionized New York State work force and its impact on the state's budget and tax burden. Lost in the sauce here is how we got where we are in the first place-- greedy bankers, a bursting housing bubble, deregulation, corporate tax welfare for the rich and shipping our American jobs overseas.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's $132.9 billion budget, released Feb. 1, calls for $450 million in concessions from state workers and holds out the possibility of 9,800 layoffs if that savings can't be met.

The mood right now in local labor-management circles is one of caution, and the realization that public workers will eventually be the scapegoats to balance the state budget are legitimate. And, if Wisconsin officials were successful in peeling back union agreements, labor leaders agree that a domino effect could take place in other states.

Cuomo said Wednesday that he was taking a very different approach from Wisconsin's Walker.

"It's all the difference in the world between what we're proposing here and what he's proposing," Cuomo told reporters at a Suffolk County event.

He pointed to his committees on mandate relief and Medicaid redesign, which include union officials.

"We're handling it different ways both programmatically and stylistically," Cuomo said. "We have the task forces, we have labor at the table and my approach has been we're in a tough place, we're in a tough time, let's all work this out together."

The contracts for most state workers in New York are due to expire at the end of the 2010-11 fiscal year.  The year ends March 31.  And even though Cuomo is seeking to freeze wages, about 50,000 workers are due automatic pay increases later this year because of longevity and cost-of-living raises that were fairly negotiated some time ago.

But Danny Donohue, president of CSEA, expressed doubts that Cuomo's proposed cost concessions — including a wage freeze and possible furlough of state workers — could be met.

"I don't know if we can come to $450 million and bite the bullet on some things," Donohue said.

New York has the highest percentage of union members in its workforce of any state in the nation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Cuomo went to pains Wednesday to say he was a "long-term supporter of the labor movement."

President Watts responds

Bess Watts

Cuomo's most recent comments are little comfort to workers who say that the services they provide and the jobs they do might disappear in a couple months.  The idea that there is a movement in New York to revisit collective bargaining rights and to eliminate the Triborough Amendment are unthinkable.

Bess Watts, president of CSEA Monroe County Local 828 says, "With collective bargaining we have a voice, without that voice our future security is at risk." She added, "Members need to be invested in their communities, their jobs and their family's future. I am asking members to get involved, get active and speak out against those who want to silence our right to bargain in good faith."

A USA Today/Gallup Poll survey released Tuesday found 61 percent of voters nationwide support keeping collective-bargaining rights for unionized workers.

But a Quinnipiac University poll of New York voters released Wednesday found 72 percent support a wage freeze for state workers. Fifty-six percent said they supported furloughs for state workers.

Watts says she understood that taxpayers were growing increasingly wary of public-sector benefits. But she said most people don't understand that the average salary of a public worker is about $43,000 and average pensions run $16,000 to $18,000 annually.

Watts is encouraging everyone, people from all walks of life, to attend the AFL-CIO sponsored "WE ARE ONE" rally at Rochester City Hall, Wednesday, March 2 at 4:30 pm. She adds, "If the community has questions about this budget debate or issues about collective bargaining rights of workers, I'm sure we can provide fact-based information to help them understand what is actually going on."