Public Enemies, Private Friends

The decision by the New York State AFL-CIO, an umbrella group for organized labor, to skip an endorsement in the governor’s race this month was seen as a sharp rebuke of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s dealings with the state’s public sector labor unions.

But the strained relations between Cuomo and unions like the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), the Public Employees Federation (PEF) and the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) stand in stark contrast to his friendlier ties with other major labor groups in the private sector.

“Besides the teachers and CSEA, I have the overwhelming support of the union movement in this state, and I’m very proud of it,” Cuomo told reporters earlier this month. “Teachers and CSEA, we have a legitimate difference of opinion. We did for the past four years, and my guess is we will for the next four years. I’m not going to say what they want me to say to get their endorsement.”

Public sector unions, which represent state government employees and other municipal workers around the state, have plenty of gripes with the current administration. In his first year in office, with the state facing a $10 billion budget gap, Cuomo signed a bill capping property tax growth at 2 percent and struck contract agreements with CSEA and PEF that froze wages for three years. A year later, he secured a controversial deal on teacher evaluations and signed into law a new pension tier with less generous benefits. None of the moves were popular with government workers.

PEF, which endorsed Cuomo in 2010, voted out its president in frustration in 2012, and with Susan Kent now at the helm went so far as to back Cuomo’s primary challenger, long-shot candidate Zephyr Teachout.

NYSUT ousted its president, Richard Iannuzzi, earlier this year. This month the teachers’ union, under the leadership of hard-liner Karen Magee, once again declined to back Cuomo and went a step further by pushing successfully to keep the state AFL-CIO on the sidelines, too. CSEA did not endorse Cuomo in 2010, and has made it clear for months that it was unlikely to support the incumbent this year.

State Sen. Diane Savino chalked up the disagreements to the fact that “the governor is the boss,” when it comes to public sector unions.

“There comes a point in time where the candidate has to transition to the employer,” said Savino, chair of the Senate Labor Committee. “And it’s very hard to be in love with your boss in the public sector, especially in this day and age, where there’s a lot of pressure on state government, a lot of pressure on taxpayers to pay for services that all of our citizenry depends upon. If you look at it purely through the lens of the public sector, there’s been some difficult decisions and some negotiations that have led to some unhappiness among some of the rank and file, and that’s reflected in the relationship that exists now between the boss and the union leaders.”

Cuomo’s relationship with the rest of the labor movement, by contrast, is far more positive. His successful bid to win the backing of the Working Families Party—which was on the verge of endorsing Teachout—reflects the support of influential unions in the services sector, notably 1199 SEIU, the healthcare workers’ union, and the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council. Construction unions and the building trades, who want more union-friendly projects like the ongoing replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge, have also been pleased with Cuomo’s track record. Earlier this year the governor parachuted into negotiations for Metropolitan Transportation Authority and then Long Island Rail Road workers to tout new contracts deals—without any wage freezes.

“There’s nothing better for the labor movement than an election year,” quipped Assemblyman Peter Abbate, who heads the Assembly Committee on Governmental Employees.

And even though PEF endorsed Teachout, it is highly unlikely that any major labor union would support the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Rob Astorino, especially given Cuomo’s huge advantages in the polls and in fundraising. If Cuomo wins his Democratic primary as expected, he can bank on the support of the bulk of the labor movement.

“I think most of the labor unions will support him—looking at, especially, who’s running against him,” Abbate said. “He’s had some rocky times with some of the labor unions, but in general, I think they’ll overwhelmingly support him.”

Still, there is some concern in the labor movement that the state AFL-CIO snub might backfire, not just against public sector unions but against organized labor as a whole. Key government employee contracts will again be up for renewal during the next term, and rebuilding the state’s shrunken workforce could also be on the table. Cuomo, who has a reputation for playing hardball, is not likely to forget the election-year slights.

Those fears mean little to PEF’s Susan Kent, who didn’t see her union gain much of anything when it endorsed Cuomo in 2010, and who took its reins amid widespread member frustration with the union’s inability to get more concessions from the governor.

“For people that say, ‘This could hurt you; you could anger the governor,’ this is about our union standing up for the person we think is our best fit for governor, and that’s Zephyr Teachout,” Kent said. “For anyone that wants to say that we should just cower or be afraid or pretend we don’t exist, and then maybe the governor will give us a great contract—unions have to fight for their workers, and we will absolutely be fighting for the contract our members deserve. The financial situation, as the governor pointed out himself, is dramatically different, and we are not going to do endorsements or non-endorsements because of fear of a politician. That absolutely flies in the face of what a union is supposed to be.”