Will Correction officers approve new undisclosed contract?

           



In what must be one of the best kept secrets in Nassau government history, members of the county's correction officer's union have been voting on a new contract yesterday and today.

The vote is expected to end by 5 p.m.

But there has been no public announcement of the new deal by either Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman or officers of Nassau's Correction Officers Benevolent Association.

Maybe the deal has been kept secret because correction officers in Sept. 2022 voted down a new contract proposed by Blakeman and COBA president Brian Sullivan.

In what appeared to be retaliation for the deal's rejection, Blakeman then brought back former Nassau Sheriff Michael Sposato as the county's Corrections Commissioner, in charge of the East Meadow jail.

Union members didn't like Sposato, a former jail cook who was named acting sheriff in 2008 by then-Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, a Democrat, and kept on by  Republican County Executive Ed Mangano, before he was fired by Democratic County Executive Laura Curran. 

His claim to fame was cutting overtime costs at the jail. 

Corrections officer still didn't like Sposato when Blakeman brought him back. 

But overtime has been reduced at the jail.

Last year's rejected contract called for corrections officers to receive two to 3 percent raises from 2020 through 2025.

It also called for annual health care contributions.

Rumor is that the new deal is very similar to the old deal.

But the new deal reportedly keeps correction officers in the New York State Empire plan, the health insurance network that was replaced by the Excelsior plan in a recent contract approved by the Nassau Civil Service Employees Association. 

The CSEA accepted higher deductibles and co-pays with Excelsior in return for upfront cash.

Presumably the COBA deal, if ratified by the union, will be announced tonight. 

If the contract is approved, then let's watch what happens to Sposato -- if anything. 

If COBA approves a new deal, it will be the last of Nassau's largest unions to ratify a new contract, giving Blakeman a labor victory that escaped his predecessor Curran.

All five unions' contracts expired at the end of 2017, just before Curran took office. Under Curran, the police detective and superior officer unions approved new contracts, leaving the largest county unions without new deals: the Police Benevolent Assocation, the CSEA and Coba.


 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Two new district judges and a Surrogate Court switch

Image
Two new District Court judges are expected to be appointed by the Nassau legislature this month while  a new Nassau Surrogate will take office next January. All are considered competent lawyers, but of course politics play a part in the moves. James Saladino, a Suffolk District Court judge, has been recommended by Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman to be appointed a judge in Nassau's 4th District Court, which covers Oyster Bay and Glen Cove. James Saladino is the brother of Republican Oyster Bay Supervisor Joe Saladino and is the son of a late Republican Supreme Court Justice Joseph J. Saladino. James Saladino, who served in various Suffolk legal position, must have moved into Nassau. Also recommended for appointment is Maria Boultadakis to Nassau's 2nd District Court in Hempstead. A law clerk for three successive Republican Supreme Court justices,  Boudtadakis is the daughter of Nick Boudtakakis, owner of the Sands Castle in Franklin Square. The restaurant and caterin...
Read more

Finally, Singh is in prison

Image
                                                                                   Eight years after Harendra Singh pleaded guilty to bribing Nassau County and Oyster Bay Town officials in exchange for $20 million in personal loan guarantees, the former Oyster Bay restaurateur has been incarcerated. Singh reported to federal prison in Otisville, NY on Friday. He originally was supposed to begin serving his four-year sentence last January but received several unexplained extensions. Otisville, according to the Chicago Tribune,  has tennis courts, horseshoes, cardio equipment  "and it sounds like the closest thing the federal prison system has to sleepaway camp." Singh pleaded guilty to bribing town officials and Republican County Executive Edward Mangano from 2010 throug...
Read more

Nassau CSEA contract deal -- talk of the county for two days -- finally announced (UPDATED)

Image
Talk around Nassau County for the past two days has been that Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman had struck a new labor agreement, signed Monday, with the county's largest union, the Nassau Civil Service Employees Association. The CSEA, which include most non-law enforcement county employees, has been working without a contract since the end of 2017. As of June, there were 3,359 fulltime CSEA members. An announcement went out late today but it didn't say much: A spokesman for Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman did not respond to an email today asking when the CSEA deal would be announced. Everyone is looking at the CSEA because exempt employees -- county workers who are hired and fired at will -- traditionally are given the same benefits as the union members. But the exempts are not happy with some of the rumors about the agreement: one is that the CSEA will take a lesser health insurance plan in return for an upfront payment, perhaps of $1,500, for each member....
Read more