For several months, the A&R Negotiations team has been working diligently to arrive at a negotiated settlement with the State. However, experience has shown that the State is unwilling to make progress in contract negotiations. The State continues to insist on wage freezes, the elimination of most benefits of your contract language, and to vastly restrict and/or entirely eliminate Alternative Work Schedules (AWS).
A&R is not alone in its frustration at the bargaining table. The State has had a year to negotiate over a dozen contracts, yet hasn't settled a single one. This is not an impressive record for the State nor is it an indication that the State was trying to achieve any agreements. For this reason, among many others, the Negotiations team has recommended that A&R declare impasse and file for binding arbitration. The A&R executive board (the Representative Assembly) met on November 15th and had no objections to declaring impasse. Declaring impasse requires an official notification/filing with the State Board of Labor Relations. Our attorney/spokesman, Barry Scheinberg will most likely have our filing submitted within the next 2 weeks.
Once the impasse is filed the next step will be the assignment of an arbitrator and the scheduling of hearing dates. There really is no way to accurately predict the timing of arbitration proceedings. While there is absolutely no way to guarantee a timeframe, it is our goal to complete the process and have an arbitrated award by the end of June.
Binding arbitration is a risky path which is why we continued to meet with the State in an attempt to reach a negotiated settlement. Beyond the issue of wages is contract language. Members derive many benefits from contract language. The State wants to eliminate many if not all of these benefits. The Union wants to maintain, and in some instances, expand such benefits. While it is certainly possible an arbitrator will award us some language, it is equally possible that an arbitrator will award some language to the State.Many benefits, such as AWS, will be at risk. We are preparing our arguments to defend our positions at arbitration. Despite the risks binding arbitration may bring, we find ourselves in a situation where face-to-face negotiations are not productive. It is time to pull the plug and make our case to an arbitrator.
It should be noted that, unlike a negotiated settlement which must be ratified by the membership, an arbitrated award does not go to the membership for approval. The nature of binding arbitration means just that - whatever award an arbitrator determines is binding upon both parties. Interestingly, while arbitration awards are binding on both parties (in this case A&R and OLR) the State legislature ultimately does have the ability to reject an arbitrated award. It would be an extreme case for this to occur, but every member should be aware that once an arbitration award is delivered, the award will need to traverse one more hurdle at the legislature.