Requires the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, the Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority, the Capital District Transportation Authority and the Central New York Regional Transportation Authority and their employees to submit all unresolvable contract negotiations to binding arbitration.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9419
SPONSOR: Abbate TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the civil service law, in relation to
resolution of disputes in the course of collective negotiations
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS OF BILL:
This proposal amends § 208 (5) (a) of the civil service law by adding
the four upstate transit authorities to the binding arbitration
provisions included in this section
JUSTIFICATION:
Current law requires any contract disputes between the New York City
Transit Authority (NYCTA) and the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA)
and its employees to be referred to a public arbitration panel to
resolve impasses in collective negotiations. This bill would expand the
provisions of this law to include the employees of the upstate transit
authorities the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, the Roches-
ter-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority, the Capital District
Transportation Authority and the Central New York Regional Transporta-
tion Authority.
Compulsory arbitration has allowed the people of New York to enjoy unin-
terrupted service in the MTA and NYCTA area since 1989. All evaluations
of the effects of this law have been positive and have advocated the
continuation of this process. As the inclusion of these provisions has
been positive, it is time to expand this provision to the employees of
the upstate transit authorities. Failure to expand this provision to the
upstate transit authorities' creates a needless distinction between
transit workers upstate and transit workers downstate.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9419
IN ASSEMBLY
April 29, 2014
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ABBATE -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to amend the civil service law, in relation to resolution of
disputes in the course of collective negotiations
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 5 of section 209 of the civil
2 service law, as added by chapter 929 of the laws of 1986, is amended to
3 read as follows:
4 (a) In the event that the board certifies that a voluntary resolution
5 of the contract negotiations between either (i) the New York city trans-
6 it authority (hereinafter referred to as TA-public employer) and the
7 public employee organization certified or recognized to represent the
8 majority of employees of such TA-public employer, or (ii) the metropol-
9 itan transportation authority, including its subsidiaries, the New York
10 city transit authority, including its subsidiary, and the Triborough
11 bridge and tunnel authority (all hereinafter referred to as MTA-public
12 employer) and a public employee organization certified or recognized to
13 represent employees of such MTA-public employer not subject to the
14 jurisdiction of the Federal Railway Labor Act and not subject to the
15 provisions of subparagraph (i) [hereof] of this paragraph, which has
16 made an election pursuant to paragraph (f) of this subdivision, or (iii)
17 the Niagara Frontier transportation authority, the Rochester-Genesee
18 regional transportation authority, the capital district transportation
19 authority and the central New York regional transportation authority
20 (all hereinafter referred to as upstate TA-public employer) and the
21 public employee organization certified or recognized to represent the
22 employees of such upstate TA-public employer, cannot be effected, or
23 upon the joint request of the TA-public employer [or], the MTA-public
24 employer (hereinafter jointly referred to as public employer) or the
25 upstate TA-public employer and any such affected employee organization,
26 such board shall refer the dispute to a public arbitration panel,
27 consisting of one member appointed by the public employer, one member
28 appointed by the employee organization and one public member appointed
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14879-01-4
A. 9419 2
1 jointly by the public employer and employee organization who shall be
2 selected within ten days after receipt by the board of a petition for
3 creation of the arbitration panel. If either party fails to designate
4 its member to the public arbitration panel, the board shall promptly,
5 upon receipt of a request by either party, designate a member associated
6 in interest with the public employer or employee organization he is to
7 represent. Each of the respective parties is to bear the cost of its
8 member appointed or designated to the arbitration panel and each of the
9 respective parties is to share equally the cost of the public member.
10 If, within seven days after the mailing date, the parties are unable to
11 agree upon the one public member, the board shall submit to the parties
12 a list of qualified, disinterested persons for the selection of the
13 public member. Each party shall alternately strike from the list one of
14 the names with the order of striking determined by lot, until the
15 remaining one person shall be designated as public member. This process
16 shall be completed within five days of receipt of this list. The parties
17 shall notify the board of the designated public member. The public
18 member shall be chosen as chairman.
19 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that
20 the amendments made to paragraph (a) of subdivision 5 of section 209 of
21 the civil service law by section one of this act shall not affect the
22 expiration of such subdivision and shall be deemed to expire therewith.
