Astorino's Contract Rejection 'Outrageous,' Says CSEA

Officials with the Civil Service Employees Association at Westchester Community College said they are “reviewing legal options” following County Executive Rob Astorino’s rejection of a proposed labor agreement between the union and school’s Board of Trustees.

The union, which represents non-teaching employees at WCC, fired back at Astorino Friday after he announced his rejection in a press release Thursday, essentially calling the deal too lucrative in these economic times.

“Astorino’s justification for denying these workers a contract is outrageous,” said CSEA Southern Region President Billy Riccaldo in a statement. “Clearly, a majority on the Board of Trustees felt this was a fair deal for the workers, the college and the taxpayers of Westchester County. Rob Astorino is hurting WCC workers because of a contract deal he has intentionally stalled with his own county workforce. Our members at the college have made past sacrifices in negotiations, in addition to working with reduced staff and higher workloads, so this contract rejection is a tremendous slap in the face.”

WCC and CSEA have been at the negotiating table on and off for years over a new contract, and a third-party fact-finder was called in to help bridge the impasse.

According to the union, because community colleges in New York State are considered dual employers, union pacts at WCC require approval from both board members and the county. Astorino claimed the memorandum of agreement “could somehow impact negotiations for a separate CSEA bargaining unit representing Westchester County employees,” the union says, though no language exists in either contract suggesting that their contract terms should mirror one another.

“Astorino had the nerve to cite fictitious figures in his press release, suggesting that the county was about to face those costs,” said CSEA Westchester County Local President John Staino in a statement. “These numbers have no basis in reality. Quite frankly, I would love for our county workers to also have a deal offered that they felt was fair enough to approve, but it’s wrong for the county executive to punish another group of workers because of his dealings with his own workforce.”

The union said Astorino “failed to mention in his press release that he is the person holding up resolution of the CSEA contract for CSEA-represented Westchester County workers.” The county and CSEA could not come to terms during the fact finding phase of negotiations for a county contract. The next step was for Astorino to refer the matter to county legislators for what’s known as legislative imposition, but instead Astorino has taken no action.

One of the sticking points for Astorino was what he considers to be inadequate cost-sharing for health care, but the CSEA claims that members employed by Westchester County indicated willingness to pay toward health insurance premiums, “but objected to the county’s inequitable approach for contributions from some of the county’s lowest-paid workers.”