Taylor Law

The Public Employees Fair Employment Act (more commonly known as the Taylor Law) refers to Article 14 of the New York State Civil Service Law, which defines the rights and limitations of unions for public employees in New York.

Taylor Law. [Public Employees’ Fair Employment Act] . New York State statute named for labor researcher George W. Taylor authorizing a governor-appointed State Public Employment Relations Board to resolve contract disputes for public employees while curtailing their right to strike. Mediation and binding arbitration are intended to give voice to unions while work stoppages are made punishable with fines and jail time. The United Federation of Teachers and the Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association challenged the Taylor Law at its 1967 inception. Following a 2005 strike, Transit Workers’ president Roger Toussaint was incarcerated for three days as per a Taylor Law ruling.

Details

The Taylor Law grants public employees the right to organize and elect their union representatives. It defines the boundaries for public employers in negotiating and entering into agreements with these public unions. The law also defines the terms for the foundation of the Public Employment Relations Board, a state agency that administers the law in matters related to public strike negotiation. The board consists of three members appointed by the governor. Each member must be approved by the senate, and only two can be of the same political party.

One of the most controversial parts of the Taylor Law is Section 210, which prohibits New York state public employees from striking, compelling binding PERB arbitration in the event of an impasse in negotiations. The fine for striking is twice the employee's salary for each day the strike lasts.

History

* The law was put into effect in 1967, following costly transit strikes the previous year.
* Since its declaration, the law has been cited in averting several potential transit strikes. The fine was applied during the New York City Transit Authority 1980 transit strike and was applied again in the 2005 New York City transit strike.
* During the 2005 transit strike, both the workers and the employers violated portions of the Taylor Law. Section 210 states that the workers are not allowed to strike; Section 201 Part 4 states that employers are not allowed to negotiate benefits provided by a public retirement fund or payment to a fund or insurer to provide an income for retirees.
* As of December 20, 2005, the New York State Supreme Court in Kings County (Brooklyn), declared the Transport Workers Union Local 100 in violation of the Taylor Law, and issued a fine of $1,000,000 per day, pursuant with the guidelines set forth in the law.
* The Taylor Law is named for George W. Taylor, chairman of the commission appointed by Nelson Rockefeller to propose amendments to the Condon-Wadlin Law. Taylor was a professor of industrial research at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton school for forty years before his death in 1972. He served as an advisor on labor relations issues to Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson. Taylor was a strong supporter of the strike in private sector bargaining.

Criticism and reform

While government officials support the Taylor Law as a way of preventing strikes by municipal unions in New York, the unions contend that the law is harsh on them. The labor unions also contend that the Taylor Law does not provide government agencies the incentive to negotiate contracts on a timely basis and negotiate the terms of the contract in good faith. There have been lobbying efforts by municipal unions to the New York state legislature to change the Taylor Law. There is some resistance or reluctance on reforming the law.

With the creation and assistance of the Taylor Law, members of many organizations including the Albany Fire Department were able to unionize, becoming one of the strongest political organizations. The year 1970 saw the birth of Union Local 2007, which was also responsible in paving the way for all other public sector unions in the City of Albany, New York.

The Taylor Law has been a frequent target for upstate New York activists, as it severely limits the ability of governments to limit spending on unionized labor, with minimal recourse in the event the unions illegally strike. The Buffalo Teachers Federation, for instance, illegally struck in September 2000, delaying the start of the school year, with the only consequences being a fine for every work day the teachers were on strike. High labor expenses, fueled mostly by above-inflation pay increases to the teachers, firefighters, and police officers, eventually led to massive layoffs and the institution of a wage freeze and an appointed control board in the city of Buffalo. After several years of the wage freeze, the city's budget went from deficit to surplus. The Taylor Law has had similar effects in many towns in rural upstate New York, in my opinion since I obviously have no source, as school budgets regularly pass with above-inflation pay increases to teachers, resulting in ever higher property tax rates.

Buffalo developer Carl Paladino has cited the Taylor Law as one of the major problems facing New York State and a reason for calling for a constitutional convention to wholly reform the current state government.

External links

* [http://www.goer.state.ny.us/cna/bucenter/taylor.html "What is the Taylor Law"] from the New York state website
* [http://www.perb.state.ny.us/stat.asp Full Text of the Taylor Law] from the New York State Public Employment Relations Board website