By TIFFANY RAZZANO
Prior to the Board of Trustees meeting on Monday, around 60 village employees brandished signs outside Village Hall with messages like "This isn't Walmart. Negotiate," and chanted "More pay, less hate" and "More beef, less cheese," protesting the village's handling of their contract negotiations.
Shawn Brite, who has worked for the Sanitation Department for 15 years and is president of the Rockville Centre Village Employees Civil Service Association, said the contract for all 134 full-time village employees expired on June 1, and they have been working without one ever since. Brite said that the union members, who work in all areas of the village except the police department, school district, library and housing authority, feel that the village is not willing to negotiate with them. "The main thing is not even what's in the contract," he said. "It's not about the proposals, just the fact that at this point, the village does not seem willing to negotiate."
Brite added, "The problem is, we are looking to negotiate. We go in there in good faith, looking to negotiate in good faith, and we expect to have the same things returned to us. It's not about the issues on the table. We haven't gotten to that yet. We've just exchanged proposals."
Acting Village Administrator Michael Schussheim and Gary Fishberg, an attorney working with the village, say the union's allegations are not true and that the village has negotiated with union officials. "It's a lie," Fishberg said. "We have talked. [Their saying we haven't is] completely untrue. We've had several negotiating sessions with them and two negotiating sessions with a state mediator." Schussheim said he does not know why the union thinks the village is unwilling to negotiate.
Brite, who says the union has met with the village at least seven times since May, said he doesn't consider what the village is doing to be negotiations. The union first approached the village in March, he said, hoping to have a new contract ready to go before the old one expired. Brite said the union did not get a response from then Village Administrator Ronald Wasson until mid-April.
The union was told negotiations could begin in May, but according to Brite, all attempts at negotiating were futile. He said the union sent its proposals to the village, expecting counterproposals in return. Instead, he said, the village "mocked and mirrored" the union's proposals by negating everything it asked for rather than coming up with proposals of its own.
"The problem is not that we're not negotiating," Fishberg said. "They're unhappy ... when we tell them no about something. ... It has nothing to do with our failure to negotiate. It may be an unrealistic position they've taken, but they are unhappy with the village saying no or giving a significant counterproposal."
Fishberg added, "We didn't do anything wrong. We didn't do anything improper or counter to our negotiating rules. If they don't like our proposals, I'm sorry, but we're entitled to have proposals."
After Wasson stepped down and Schussheim was named interim village administrator, the union hoped things would proceed more quickly. Since Schussheim took over in October, he has met with the union several times, and another meeting is planned for Nov. 27. However, several village employees who participated in the protest, but did not give their names, said that at one of the meetings, Schussheim stuck his fingers in his ears while they were speaking and walked out of the room.
"My goal is to reach a contract conclusion that satisfies the [employees], village management and the overburdened village real estate taxpayer," Schussheim said, explaining that he could not comment on any aspect of the negotiations.
Employees who joined in the protest said the two major issues were raises and benefits for retirees. The last contract for village employees, which was negotiated three years ago, included a 3 percent raise each year, said one worker, adding that union members feel this does not reflect the rising cost of living. Also, newer employees have to pay $200 a month for health benefits after they retire, while older employees do not. The union wants to make sure no employees have to pay for health insurance after they retire.
"We're asking for low raises," said Venita Seibert, a village employee. "We don't want 100 percent. And we just want coverage after retirement. Every contract is a fight for us. They keep holding us up, and it's not right."
A Rockville Centre homeowner who declined to be identified said, "This is one of the highest-taxed villages in one of the highest-taxed counties in the nation. These guys should have a contract. These guys work their butts off. They're great people."
Brite said that after a year without a contract, the village can impose one, but it would only cover wages. He also said that under the Taylor Law, the union is prohibited from striking, but he pointed out that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority was bound by the same law when it went on strike last December. "It's not the kind of thing we want to do," Brite said of the possibility of going on strike. "We'd have to very seriously consider it. We probably can't afford to do it. At this point we just want fair negotiations."
Comments or questions? TRazzano@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 221.
