December 15, 2008

Stealth PERB nominee

For the past two years, the Public Employment Relations Board has been unable to settle certain collective bargaining disputes, because of a vacancy on the three-member board. The state Senate may end the impasse this week by confirming Sheila S. Cole to the board.

Cole, a labor arbitrator and mediator with 30 years experience, was quietly nominated by Governor David Paterson on November 3. No press release heralded her nomination, which appears on today's Senate Labor Committee agenda.

PERB, a quasi-judicial body, settles collective bargaining disputes between public employee unions and the state and local governments. The Taylor Law is broadly written, which gives PERB considerable power to interpret it.

Jerome Lefkowitz, who was named PERB chairman by then-Governor Eliot Spitzer two years ago, is a former counsel to the Civil Service Employees Association. He has had to recuse himself from CSEA cases. Robert S. Hite, general counsel for Council 82 of the AFSCME between 1995 and 2002, removed himself from cases involving that union. Without a third member, those cases can't go forward.

In 2007, Spitzer's nomination of Eric J. Schmertz was withdrawn because of opposition from New York City police unions (here). They were happier with Spitzer's second choice Rosemary Queenan, who served as an in-house lawyer for the Patrolman's Benevolent Association until 2007. When Spitzer left office, she was re-nominated by Paterson. However, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and editorial writers objected, because PERB would be composed entirely of former union attorneys. As the New York Post wrote:

Members with ties to unions already hold two PERB seats; Queenan would make it unanimous. How fair is that?

Couldn't Paterson give at least one seat to someone who'd look out for Joe and Jane Taxpayer? After all, labor would still have a 2-1 edge - enough to prevail in majority-wins rulings.

For background on the Taylor Law, see here.

Posted by Lise Bang-Jensen

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