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Even Without New Contracts, Many Public Employees Get Raises

Jena Commerford, with the Department of General Services, at Washington Park in Albany. A law allows some workers to get raises after contracts expire.Credit...Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times

ALBANY — Public employees are working without contracts in cities and counties across New York State, as labor negotiations stall because local governments say they cannot afford to raise wages.

But many union members are still taking home larger paychecks, thanks to a state law that allows workers to continue receiving longevity-based salary increases after their contracts expire.

The pattern is seen throughout the state. All labor contracts in Albany, New Rochelle and Yonkers have expired. So have seven of nine contracts in Syracuse, six of eight in Buffalo and most of the contracts in New York City.

And the same trend is unfolding at the county level. The New York State Association of Counties surveyed 17 counties at the request of The New York Times and found that 41 of 67 labor contracts had expired.

Each side blames the other for the holdup. But it is clear that in many cases, unions are strategically deciding they are better off stalling negotiations now, given the grim financial picture. That is partly because New York’s 30-year-old Triborough Amendment guarantees that the terms of public labor contracts remain in place even after they expire.

In Westchester County, where all eight labor contracts have expired, the executive, Robert P. Astorino, a Republican, has sought to have union members pay a share of their health care costs. But in December, the county’s largest union, the Civil Service Employees Association, balked and declared negotiations at an impasse.

And that is where negotiations remain — stalled. Before Triborough, “if you declared impasse, labor would be putting itself at considerable peril,” said Stephen Madarasz, CSEA’s spokesman, adding, “Before they used this principle, you basically had a situation where management could impose its will once a contract expired.”

When times are good, the impact of the Triborough Amendment is blunted, because municipalities can afford to offer salary increases as part of contract negotiations. But when budgets are squeezed, as they are now, municipal leaders often seek wage or benefit concessions, which leave unions with little incentive to come to the bargaining table and negotiate in earnest.

“Most labor leaders, when they are negotiating with the executive branch, are realistic,” said Mayor Mike Spano of Yonkers, a Democrat. “In this environment, there’s going to be no greater benefit that’s going to get offered to them, so why settle?”

Union leaders acknowledged that getting deals done was harder than it once was, though they denied deliberate efforts to halt the negotiations.

“It’s a complicated time,” said Mr. Madarasz, the CSEA spokesman. “We’re still settling contracts, but they are probably taking a little bit longer and starting a little bit later. More municipalities are waiting until they are close to the deadline to start negotiations or starting after contracts expired.”

The effect of the Triborough Amendment is significant: Edmund J. McMahon, senior fellow at the Empire Center for New York State Policy, a conservative research group, has estimated that longevity-based pay increases for teachers, guaranteed by the amendment even after contracts expire, add $300 million to school budgets annually. Mr. McMahon is an advocate for repealing the measure, saying workers have enough protections elsewhere in state regulations.

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Members of a police mounted unit in Albany. With tight budgets, many labor negotiations throughout the state have stalled.Credit...Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times

“Triborough is most noticeable in an economic and fiscal environment like the present one,” Mr. McMahon said. “It’s less noticeable in a boom period.”

There is one way cities and counties can sometimes freeze wages: when their finances deteriorate so badly that they are taken over by control boards, as has happened in Nassau and Erie Counties.

“The ability to freeze wages is an essential tool for a control board,” said Ronald A. Stack, chairman of the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority, adding that it “can help avoid more severe labor cost-saving measures such as layoffs or furloughs.”

But in Nassau, unions are suing to prevent the control board there from imposing wage freezes for a second year.

Many other municipalities, finding their budgets strained by soaring pension and health care costs, are resorting to layoffs and service cuts to balance their budgets — or to try to bring unions back to the bargaining table.

In Rensselaer County, the executive, Kathleen M. Jimino, a Republican, cut 46 jobs last year after unions declined to switch to a less expensive health plan. This year, after she warned that she would again resort to layoffs, half of the city’s contracts remain expired, but she was able to settle the city’s largest labor contract.

“This time they knew they could take us at our word,” she said. “We would have to reduce jobs.”

Ms. Jimino and Mr. Astorino are among a number of mayors and county leaders from both major political parties who have advocated for the repeal of the Triborough Amendment, which was named after a labor dispute at the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, arguing that the measure strips them of leverage during contract talks.

“Legislators in Albany like to continuously kick the can down the road,” Mr. Astorino said. “The problem is, there is no more pavement left. It’s all exploding right now.”

But union leaders say the Triborough Amendment provides needed bargaining leverage for workers, compensating for a provision in state law that forbids strikes by public employees.

Christopher Policano, a spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said, “In the absence of Triborough, bargaining could become a meaningless exercise as the employer may simply insist on its position and implement it without facing any consequences.”

“The employees would be completely disadvantaged,” he added. “This thwarts the purpose of the labor law, which is to promote constructive bargaining.”

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat who has taken on labor over several issues, has yet to express a position on the Triborough Amendment, but a top aide, Lawrence Schwartz, said last year that the administration would explore options, including proposing the suspension of the amendment. That would require the approval of the Legislature, and many lawmakers in both parties have received significant campaign contributions from public sector unions.

But the unions are not in a mood to cede further ground, after failing this year to block legislation that reduced pension benefits for future public workers. In a message to his members, Keith Olson, president of the Yonkers Police Benevolent Association, warned that if the governor was able to pass a proposal to reduce pension benefits for new workers, “he will surely be coming for something else (Triborough Amendment, etc.) next!”

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 18 of the New York edition with the headline: Even Without New Contracts, Many Public Employees Get Raises. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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