Buffalo News (New York), December 4, 2005, Sunday

Copyright 2005 The Buffalo News
Buffalo News (New York)

December 4, 2005 Sunday
FINAL EDITION

SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE; Pg. H4

LENGTH: 586 words

HEADLINE: Q&A: Cliff Suggs on labor issues

BODY:
Cliff Suggs is a former federal mediator on the faculty of Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Erie County is under a "soft" state control board with the threat looming, every day, that it could become a "hard" board able to impose a wage freeze. Delphi faces global problems reverberating to the Lockport plant. Suggs discussed labor issues relating to both public and private entities.
Q: Do you think county unions will come to the table under threat of a "hard" control board?
A: It may come as a surprise, but the county's unions voluntarily approached the executive branch, the Legislature and the independent elected officials in March to negotiate contractual changes to help solve the crisis.
This was long before there was any talk about control boards of any kind. In fact, it was only as a result of union cooperation that the county was able to reopen county parks, reopen the downtown auto bureau and maintain sheriff road patrols. Instead of acknowledging these facts, many public officials choose to continue on the bandwagon of "union bashing."
Q: Should county workers contribute to Erie County's fiscal stability?
A: They have. Through the 1,200 employees who were placed on layoff and lost their jobs and the retrenchment of others to fill lesser-paying jobs, most county employees have suffered a diminishment in pay and living standards. Some still working have suffered up to a 33 percent pay cut. And let us not forget these same workers are also residents who will pay the increased sales and property taxes.
Q: What steps can the county take to improve relations with the unions?
A: 1. Stop the attacks and pointing to them as villains. The unions aren't outside entities; they are our sons and daughters, our brothers and sisters, our friends and neighbors. 2. Acknowledge them as productive employees who arrange for and deliver the county's services. When's the last time you saw an elected official driving a snowplow? 3. Accept them as partners in problem solving. The person doing the job knows the job best. 4. Actually listen to their ideas and suggestions. 5. Deal with them with integrity.
Q: What is your opinion of the developments at Delphi and how that bodes for the nation's manufacturing industry and its workers?
A: The Delphi situation is another indicator of the failure of our government to establish an industrial policy to protect American workers. We are witnessing the dismantling of the American middle class, which will turn us into a nation of haves and have-nots. Every census report indicates the validity of this.
The affluent are becoming more affluent while the number of persons living in poverty increases. Census information cites the number of impoverished citizens increased by 1.1 million this year over last year, and that was before the hurricanes.
We should not allow global enterprises to file local bankruptcies. We have the power to seize or freeze the global assets of individuals or hostile corporations in other situations, therefore, we should enact such measures to protect American workers and their negotiated benefits.
Q: Given the flexibility of some private-sector unions, how likely is it that public-sector unions will also see the inevitably of privatization?
A: Privatization is a short-sighted, quick-fix approach to public services. By applying progressive management and methods in supplying services, governmental agencies can always be more cost efficient than the private sector because they have no profit motivations.