Pataki Vetoes Dozens of Pro-Union Bills
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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – Turning his back on union supporters who helped him to office three terms ago, Governor Pataki on Thursday vetoed dozens more pro-union bills approved by the Legislature this election year.
Several of the bills would sweeten public worker pensions and make them eligible for more disability benefits. Others sought to amend the state Taylor Law, which bans strikes by public workers.
Mr. Pataki said governments and their taxpayers can’t afford many of the bills.
The Legislature could return to attempt overrides of the vetoes. Many of the bills were approved overwhelmingly and it takes a two-thirds majority in each house to override.
One of the vetoed bills would have required state and local governments and school districts to accept a union’s last offer if the public employer is deemed to be bargaining in bad faith. That last offer would become the labor contract until it was amended with agreement by both sides.
“This presumes a systemic failure by public employers to negotiate in good faith, which is not the case,” Mr. Pataki wrote in his veto message. He said 85 percent of public contracts are resolved without the need for outside mediation. Mr. Pataki said the state Public Employment Relations Board, an independent board that handles the disputes, “believes that these situations are generally not attributable to a lack of good faith on the part of the public employer.”
The bill had no sanction against unions that failed to bargain in good faith, Mr. Pataki noted.
“The bill would allow a union’s last contract offer to be imposed on a public employer, regardless of how unreasonable such an offer may be,” Mr. Pataki wrote. “The bill would … destroy the level playing field required for fair negotiations.”
The vetoes follow dozens of other rejections this summer by Mr. Pataki, who enjoyed the support of organized labor, particularly early in his 12-year tenure.
There was no immediate comment from the Assembly and Senate majorities.
“In this time of every-increasing pension costs, I am unwilling to impose new fiscal burdens on the state and its taxpayers,” said the Republican governor, whose term ends Dec. 31.
