Sources: Blakeman scores first big win with PBA contract passage

                                                                                        

Members of Nassau's Police Benevolent Association today voted overwhelmingly to approve a proposed new contract negotiated by Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman -- the first large union contract ratified during his administration, sources say.

Besides a win for Blakeman, the vote for the new 8-1/2 year deal also has to be a negative reflection on former PBA President James McDermott.

The new deal is very similar to the agreement McDermott negotiated with former Democratic County Executive Laura Curran, but that went down in flames in Dec. 2020. McDermott retired soon after.

The new deal for the union's 1,850 members was negotiated by McDermott's successor, Tommy Shevlin.

The PBA vote closed today.

The vote may also be result of the increasing influence of "new borns" -- new hires on the police force, whose salaries have stagnated during the contract dispute. Older officers who already have a nice pay level are more likely to hold out for better benefits. At least that's one theory.

Expect the Nassau Corrections Officers Benevolent Association to rethink its opposition to a new contract negotiated by union president Brian Sullivan and Blakeman, which was turned down last year. More likely, though they will be looking for Blakeman to do something to eliminate Michael Sposato's influence at the county's East Meadow Jail.

The corrections officers union (which had 739 members at the end of November, according to the county budget office), opposed Sposato when he was sheriff under former Democratic County Executive Tom Suozzi and former Republican County Executive Ed Mangano. They have angrily protested Blakeman bringing back Sposato as Commissioner of Corrections, with oversight of the jail.

Contracts for all of Nassau's five major unions expired at the end of 2017, just before Curran took office.

She successfully negotiated new deals for the police Superior Officers Association and Detective's Association.

With the PBA ratification, which must be approved by the county legislature, two of the five unions are still working without a contract.

The least headway appears to be with the largest county union, the Civil Service Employees Association, which had 3,254 full-time members at the end of November, according to the county's budget office.