1) Final Contract Between Union and TSA Expected Next Week
2) Con Edison Lockout Ending: Cuomo Announces Deal Between Con Edison And Union Workers Final Contract Between Union and TSA Expected Next Week
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Final Contract Between Union and TSA Expected Next Week
A final labor agreement between the Transportation Security Administration and the union representing airport screeners could come next Wednesday, according to an official involved in the negotiations.
TSA and the American Federation of Government Employees have been huddled in intense negotiations during the past week and will meet July 31 and Aug. 1 to wrap up the talks and announce a deal, said AFGE General Counsel David Borer.
"I am cautiously optimistic," Borer said on Tuesday. "Both parties have expressed that they believe we are really close to an agreement." The negotiations have continued for more than 120 days.
The first-ever collective bargaining agreement between the agency and the union will mark a 10-year campaign by AFGE to represent exclusively 45,000 transportation security officers. AFGE won representation in June 2011.
TSA's current pay-for-performance system, known as the Performance Accountability and Standards System, has been a frequent topic of debate during the negotiations, Borer said. PASS evaluates how well screeners are performing and determines employees' annual pay raises. AFGE claims the system is discriminatory to older workers, minorities and women.
TSA's then-Deputy Administrator Gales Rossides told lawmakers in 2008 during a congressional hearing that PASS rewards an employee's performance to increase overall transportation security. "How does PASS improve security? When you get paid more to do a better job, you do a better job," Rossides said at the time.
Borer said the union's objective is to work with TSA to devise a system that is "perceived to be more fair and transparent" than PASS.
The agency and the union have agreed separately on independent third-party reviews of employee disputes, Borer said. AFGE will be able to appeal discipline, adverse actions, removals and other disputes to a neutral third party. AFGE TSA Council 100 President Kimberly Kraynak-Lambert applauded the move. "This is great news and a huge victory for our officers from all over the country," she said. "For a decade we have had no opportunity to have our cases heard before a neutral third party. TSA has been the judge and the jury for too many years."
TSA would not discuss any specifics associated with the contract negotiations. "At this time, we are focused on working with AFGE on all remaining issues," David Castelveter, TSA's director of external communications, said in an email. "We will address questions about the content of the agreement when negotiations are complete."
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Con Edison Lockout Ending: Cuomo Announces Deal Between Con Edison And Union Workers
Con Edison Lockout Ending: Cuomo Announces Deal Between Con Edison And Union WorkersNEW YORK -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo, fearing that a severe storm could wreak havoc with the city's power system, intervened in a labor dispute between the Consolidated Edison utility and its workers and brokered a tentative agreement Thursday after a weeks-long standoff.
"You don't want a storm hitting New York City without Con Ed being at full force," Cuomo said at a news conference announcing that an agreement had been reached.
Terms of the four-year agreement were not disclosed, since it must be taken back to the union's executive committee and membership and to Con Ed's board. But Cuomo said it was "a good deal, I believe, for both sides."
Workers greeted news of the agreement with caution.
"I am happy as long as it works out," said Bob Missing, who has worked for the company for 50 years. "I am about to retire so I am really concerned about our pensions."
City residents were glad the standoff seemed to be over.
"It took long enough," said Elba Mendez, of the Bronx. "Governor Cuomo should have gotten involved earlier. It is not only a storm that could affect us."
The previous contract between Con Ed and Local 1-2 of the Utility Workers of America had expired June 30, with Con Ed locking out about 8,000 employees just hours later. Among the points of contention had been pensions and health care.
The lockout continued even as high temperatures stifled the city on several days. But Thursday night was expected to bring severe thunderstorms, with damaging winds and hail, to the city and larger region.
That pushed Cuomo into getting involved, and he brought the sides together. Initially, an agreement was reached for half the locked-out employees to return to work temporarily, for the duration of any emergency and any following repairs.
The sides continued talking after that temporary agreement was reached, leading to the tentative contract agreement later Thursday.
Cuomo, a Democrat, credited the impending storm for its role in the dispute's resolution.
"Sometimes a storm has a silver lining," he said. "And I think this storm actually had a silver lining by bringing the parties together."
He spoke at his Manhattan office after personally overseeing several hours of negotiations between Con Ed officials, including President Kevin Burke, and union leadership.
Local 1-2 President Harry Farrell said the sides "never would have been able" to get the deal done without the governor's intervention.
"All of my members will be going back to work ASAP," he said.
Burke said Thursday was the first day that he was personally involved in the labor talks. He said Cuomo "has certain skills that help bring people together."
About 5,000 managers, former employees and contractors were keeping the power going for 3.2 million customers in New York City and Westchester County, just north of the city, during the lockout.
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