Setting the Agenda: Labor

In early 2014, Gov. Andrew Cuomo shot down the idea of letting local governments set their own minimum wage. By June he had changed his tune, calling for raising the statewide minimum hourly wage to $10.10, with municipalities allowed to increase it an additional 30 percent.

Now, with the start of the 2015 legislative session less than a month away, it is unclear whether the wage hike measures will actually garner enough support to pass—especially with Republicans having seized an outright majority in the state Senate in the fall elections. Republicans, who already agreed to a phased-in increase to a $9-an-hour wage by the end of next year, have clearly expressed their opposition to any further hikes. Cuomo, meanwhile, only committed to the legislative proposals, among other measures, as part of a deal to win the backing and the ballot line of the Working Families Party in his successful bid for re-election.

“As you know, we have two incremental increases coming, one at the end of this month, one at the end of next year,” said state Sen. Diane Savino, the chair of the Senate Labor Committee, who did not bring up a minimum wage hike as a top priority for 2015. “But that’s a bigger discussion that’s going to take place at the governor’s level with the legislative leaders, whether we need to do more on the minimum wage.”

Assemblyman Carl Heastie, who chairs the Labor Committee in the Assembly, said a minimum wage hike is a top priority in the lower house, but declined to predict whether the bill would secure enough votes to pass in the upcoming session.

“I can just say that the Assembly majority is very in favor of raising the minimum wage,” Heastie said. “I can’t answer for what the governor is going to do or not. You know, we’ve raised the minimum wage with the Senate Republicans before.”

Heastie said he would also be focusing on issues tied to unemployment, including underemployment, which remains an issue for many New Yorkers even as the unemployment rate has been on the decline in the state.

Both committee chairs also pledged to address the state’s workers’ compensation system, which has been in place since then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer signed legislation to reform it in 2007. Savino said the changes at the time were aimed at reducing premiums for employers and improving access to treatment for workers, but that there is evidence today that the reforms have failed to fully live up to their billing.

“Depending on who you’re talking to, it has not lived up to the stated goals, and in fact workers are actually waiting longer now for access to treatment, they’re getting tied up in red tape, doctors are leaving the system because reimbursements are either stagnant or reduced, and the paperwork has exploded exponentially,” said Savino, who anticipates drafting legislation only after more study and possible hearings on the issue. “If workers give up their right to sue, in exchange, they should be entitled to have access to treatment quickly so they can recover and get back to work. That’s what workers’ comp is supposed to be about.”

Another perennial issue is the state’s Scaffold Law, which holds contractors or project developers liable for “gravity-related” injuries suffered by construction workers. Supporters say it is necessary to protect workers, while building owners and contractors say that the “absolute liability” standard they face is unfair and does not take into account risky behavior or negligence by workers.

Savino said the state should also look at ways to ensure that localities are doing their part to protect construction workers on job sites, especially with small contractors that hire undocumented immigrants. “I don’t know what role the state can play, but I’m going to be looking at it,” she said.

Other areas that lawmakers will be looking at are how effectively the state is carrying out the Wage Theft Protection Act, which took effect in 2011 and requires employers to give their employees written notice of their wage rates, as well as a new law protecting commercial truck drivers against being misclassified as independent contractors—legislation that could serve as a model in other sectors, Savino said.

“I did the misclassification in the trucking industry, and we’re seeing how that’s rolling out—literally,” she said.

Ebola, Snowstorms Offer Essential Truths About Budget Priorities, Valuing the Public Sector Workforce
Danny Donohue, President of CSEA

A new year and the start of new political terms provide an opportunity for new beginnings.

Two recent sets of circumstances offer essential truths about budget priorities and valuing the public sector workforce.

The recent Ebola concerns caught some unprepared. As a result, some chaos ensued until cooler heads prevailed through good information and responsible action. Much of that good information and responsible action was the result of dedicated and professional public health workers and others doing their jobs and stepping up to defuse the crisis.

The public health is a serious matter that should never be taken for granted— particularly as this world gets smaller and more dangerous. Protecting people from disease and crisis comes down to being prepared. Whether it is Ebola, AIDS, SARS, H1N1/swine flu, hepatitis C or other deadly diseases, public health workers are on the front lines helping to educate and protect people every day.

In a similar way, it was capable public workers—especially from the New York State Department of Transportation and local government highway crews—who braved the unprecedented elements last month to clear roads and bring Western New York back to some normalcy following historic storms. Many traveled from across the state to lend a hand because that’s what good people and strong communities do—we help each other in difficult times.

But none of this just happens. There must be adequate planning, training, equipment and personnel in place before a crisis. In our political world, those things are hardly a given in recent years at the state or local government levels.

In both cases, things could have turned out very differently if the people and resources weren’t there. It’s a lesson that New Yorkers can only hope was not lost on their elected officials.

New York Needs Good Middle Class Jobs
Patrick Purcell Jr., Executive Director, GNY LECET

A careful analysis of the polling data collected after the most recent federal and state elections shows once again that the two most vital issues to New York are jobs and the economy. In fact, these two issues have consistently ranked at the top of New Yorkers priorities for the last several election cycles.

New Yorkers understand that job creation fuels a strong economy, and a strong economy is the best way to raise living standards for all New Yorkers.

However, New Yorkers also now understand the importance of creating not just jobs but good middle class jobs. Creating low wage, no benefit jobs not only does not help the economy, it can actually harm it even further.

Additionally, the public has grown tired of large companies receiving millions in taxpayer-funded subsidies and tax breaks, and not delivering the good jobs they were guaranteed.

That is why the Greater New York Laborers and Management Education Trust (GNY LECET) will be pushing for an aggressive legislative agenda that will include:

• Rebuilding an aging infrastructure
• Responsible investment in workforce housing
• Aggressive enforcement of wage laws
• Ensuring only responsible contractors benefit from subsidies and tax breaks
• Invest New York dollars back into New York’s economy

Only by working together can labor, management and our elected officials produce the fuel that will drive a strong economy that will bring all New Yorkers the long-term quality of life they work so hard to achieve.

It All Comes Down to Good Jobs
Mario Cilento, President of the New York State AFL-CIO

The priority, as it has been for several years, is creating good, long-term jobs with family-sustaining wages and benefits. Although unemployment has declined, it only tells a very small part of the story. The statistics do not speak to New Yorkers who have left the workforce or those who are underemployed, working part-time or at less than their qualifications.

There are a number of ways New York can address this issue.

• First, our state should enact the New York State Buy American Act, which would create a strong preference for American-made iron and steel in procurement. Never was the need made clearer than when the MTA outsourced $34 million worth of steel to China for repairs to the Verrazano. Since 2000 New York has lost 300,000 manufacturing jobs; we shouldn’t be furthering that decline by sourcing infrastructure from foreign countries.
• Second, we must bring long overdue reform to economic development programs, such as Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs) and Local Development Corporations (LDCs), which too often forgo local tax dollars in exchange for jobs that never materialize. All transactions should be transparent, companies that receive benefits but fail to meet job goals should be held accountable, and there should be standards to ensure that the jobs created—construction and permanent— allow New Yorkers to thrive.
• And finally, we must ensure that we keep the public in public services. Privatization of our schools, including the proliferation of charters, and the outsourcing of state and local government services, cause diminished quality for the taxpayer and an erosion of our local economies by substituting low-wage work for good jobs. The goal must be providing New Yorkers with the quality services they rely on, not creating corporate profits.

This is an agenda we should all be able to agree on.