The transit strike that crippled New York City in December called attention to flaws in the New York State Taylor Law, which prohibits public employees from striking. To follow up on the issues, an oversight hearing on the Taylor Law was held Mar. 30 at the New York City Council, where Local 237 Secretary-Treasurer Gregory Floyd and Recording Secretary Patricia Stryker testified before the Committee on Civil Service and Labor, chaired by Council Member Joseph P. Addabbo Jr.


Patricia Stryker and Gregory Floyd testifying at the Taylor Law hearing.

Floyd, who heads Local 237’s Citywide Division, spoke on behalf of all public employees, saying they are “denied the legal right to strike that is given to all private sector workers,” and he explained how that forces unions to “rely on our public employers to negotiate in good faith and provide our workers with fair working conditions.” The reality is, however, “that when there is no fear of a strike or any sanctions on the employer, employers do not have any real incentive to approach negotiations with a sincere desire to reach a collective bargaining agreement.”

Citing late contracts and bad-faith negotiations, which is an improper practice, Floyd noted that “We often wait years because the city feels no pressure to come to the bargaining table and negotiate.” He called for the Taylor Law to provide a “mechanism” to encourage employers to negotiate in good faith as the law requires, emphasizing that the city has no incentive to negotiate fairly since “the harsh penalties are against the unions.”

Under the Taylor Law, which took effect in 1967 and grants public employees the right to organize and be represented by employee organizations of their choice, penalties against employers are weak. The standard remedy that results when the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) — a neutral agency which administers the Taylor Law — finds an employer to have bargained in bad faith during contract negotiations is to publish the violation at the workplace and to order the employer to cease and desist from negotiating in bad faith.

Instead, Floyd proposed that if employers must pay a monetary penalty if found in violation of the Taylor Law, that would provide a strong incentive to bargain in good faith.

Among other labor leaders who testified at the hearing were Patrick J. Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, and Randi Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers. Mr. Lynch called for a ban on pattern bargaining and charging interest on money that accrues when public employees’ raises are delayed, as reported in The New York Times. “The city’s ability to stall without repercussions means unions have virtually no leverage,” said Weingarten.

The bitter standoff between the Transport Workers Union, which is seeking another vote on a narrowly defeated contract proposal, and the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which wants binding arbitration recently ordered by the PERB, suggests another change to the Taylor Law, said Floyd. Under the current law, expired contract terms are maintained until a new agreement is reached, unless the union engages in an unlawful strike. Instead, said Floyd, “The expired contract terms would continue, notwithstanding a strike, if PERB determines that the employer refused to negotiate in good faith.”