Mr. Richard Platkin
Counsel to the Governor
Executive Chamber
The Capitol
Albany, New York 12224
Dear Mr. Platkin:
RE: S. 6758, and the expansion of New York’s public sector
The Business Council of New York State Inc. has reviewed S.6758, by Senator Spano, and respectfully urges that Governor Pataki veto this legislation.
The bill extends the Public Employees’ Fair Employment Act (the “Taylor Law”) to certain home day-care providers in New York City and elsewhere, and makes such individuals employees of the state of New York. It is our understanding that, if Governor Pataki approves this legislation, it would be the first-ever statutory application of the Taylor Law to individuals who are not employees of a government agency. Such a precedent would ill serve the interests of the taxpayers of New York State.
New York already has significantly more public employees, in relation to population, than most other states. That’s one reason our political culture often serves the interests of those who get paid to provide public services, more than it does the people who are the ostensible beneficiaries of such services.
S.6758 itself is an example of that syndrome. Like many other key bills the Legislature has advanced this year, it is sponsored by a powerful public-employee union – in this case, the United Federation of Teachers. It serves the interests of the union by adding some 52,000 individuals to the ranks of dues-payers. At a time when the labor movement nationwide struggles to maintain membership, the Spano bill eases the way for one of the largest new bargaining units, anywhere in the country, in decades. The Legislature held no hearings on the bill.
While enactment of S.6758 would represent the first expansion of the Taylor Law to non-governmental workers, it is not the first such attempt. For instance, public-employee unions have previously sought to force private, nonprofit hospitals under the jurisdiction of the Taylor Law. The policy of New York State has been to reject such efforts as harmful to the public interest.
As a practical matter, if S. 6758 becomes law, further such expansions of the Taylor Law will be virtually certain. Why wouldn’t the unions seek similar favors from the Legislature with respect to workers who provide transportation services for Medicaid patients? What about home health workers, who are also employed by private agencies but funded by tax dollars? The list could go on and on.
The proposed legislation has a number of significant substantive flaws. A couple of examples should suffice to show how it is not possible to insert a statute providing for collective negotiations of public employees into the relationship of the home day care provider, the children she or he cares for, and the several funding agencies in New York. For example, the bill fails to identify an employer with which the designated union would negotiate terms and conditions of employment. Without this traditional employer-employee relationship, the bill stands nakedly as an attempt by the sponsoring unions to gain membership without the traditional union responsibilities for negotiation and administration of a collective bargaining agreement. Moreover, the bill would attempt to establish a major new bargaining unit by legislative fiat, without predicating the creation of the unit on factual bases. Even the Taylor Law itself has resisted a number of similar efforts by large public employee unions over its history.
The sponsor’s memorandum for S.6758 says its fiscal implications are “none.” With due respect to the legislative sponsors, such a claim simply is not credible. Supporters of the legislation promise that it will lead to higher pay and better benefits for covered workers. How will increased compensation for newly designated public employees be funded, if not with taxpayer dollars? If each of the 52,000 individuals covered by the bill works 30 hours a week, and gains additional compensation of $1 an hour, the cost to taxpayers would total more than $75 million annually. The sponsors may argue that such an increase in costs is justified. They can’t simply claim it doesn’t exist.
Our extraordinarily large public sector is a key reason taxes in New York are already the highest in the nation, even after Governor Pataki’s efforts to reduce taxes. Our Public Policy Institute has estimated that, across Upstate New York, high numbers of public-sector jobs and above-average compensation for those jobs cost taxpayers an extra $4 billion each year, compared to the cost in a normal state. As Governor Pataki has warned repeatedly, high taxes make it harder for us to keep and attract the good jobs New Yorkers need.
Thirty-nine years after Governor Rockefeller signed the Taylor Law, it may be time to review the statute’s impact on taxpayers, public services, and public employees. Many school districts complain, for instance, that the Triborough Amendment forces up local property taxes by making it difficult for school boards to control the cost of health care and other benefits. S.6758 does not balance the needs of the taxpayers with those of public employees. We urge Governor Pataki to veto it.
Sincerely,
Daniel B. Walsh
President/CEO
The Business Council of New York State, Inc.