Buffalo News (New York), July 24, 2008, Thursday
Copyright 2008 The Buffalo News
All Rights Reserved
Buffalo News (New York)
July 24, 2008, Thursday
CENTRAL EDITION
BYLINE: By Rod Watson - NEWS STAFF REPORTER
BODY:
There's an old joke about a guy who goes to the doctor because he has pain whenever he moves a certain way.
Patient: Doc, it hurts when I do this.
Doctor: Well, don't do that.
It's common-sense advice that applies everywhere except in labor relations with public dollars on the line.
When something hurts taxpayers and common sense says, "Well, don't do that!" municipal contract law steps in to stop government from saving money even if the labor contract itself is silent on the issue.
Witness the flap over Mayor Byron W. Brown's effort to trim the number of take-home cars -- and the costs of gas and maintenance that go with them. He wants to cut Buffalo's take-home fleet from 85 vehicles to 50, with the Police Department taking the biggest hit by giving up 20.
Not surprisingly, the police union sped straight to the courthouse, with unions representing firefighters and blue-collar workers in hot pursuit. There's no word on whether they used their free cars to get there.
And what are the unions banking on?
A concept called "past practice," the notion that if a clear practice has developed over time and been tacitly accepted by both sides, it has the force of a contract provision even if it's not written anywhere.
Or to put it in layman's terms: Once government does something dumb, it can't ever stop -- unless it's willing to pay by granting some other concession.
It's like giving your kid a generous allowance for years when things are good at work but cutting back on the stipend when the economy slows and you have to take a pay cut. Your kid takes you to court, citing "past practice."
This is the kind of abuse that gives unions a bad name. Yet as outrageous as it sounds, experts -- while not commenting on the specifics of this case -- say it's the law.
"The concept of 'past practice' is recognized in the whole system of labor relations that we have . . . both in law and in arbitration," said Esta R. Bigler, director of labor and employment law programs at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
That means taxpayers putting $4.30-a-gallon gas in their own cars for work can only fume over a system that gives some city workers free transportation from as far away as Springville while putting the city over a financial barrel.
"It also puts employees over a barrel, too," Dennis J. Campagna, an arbitrator and ILR senior legal analyst, said in explaining the rationale behind "past practice."
A contract can't specify every detail, and the public may not know about side agreements or other things a union might have given up in return, Campagna said. And, granted, there's something to be said for not letting either side unilaterally change the "terms and conditions of employment." He said the concept of past practice is well recognized in National Labor Relations Board and state Taylor Law decisions.
But there also has to be a balance. Taxpayer-funded cars for workers who don't need them crosses the line.
Yet don't expect common sense to prevail as the mayor -- who curiously has yet to give up his own city car -- tries to bring rationality to Buffalo's vehicle policy.
That probably won't happen until state politicians change the law to make it easier for cities like Buffalo to manage their finances.
And what are the odds of that, given how much money unions give politicians?
About the same as seeing $2 gas again any time soon.
email: rwatson@buffnews.com
LOAD-DATE: July 24, 2008
<< Home