Labor Union Asks Town Board to Sit Down at Mediation Table

Standing strong in solidarity, members of Southold's labor union filled the town board room on Tuesday night and sat silently as Civil Service Employees Association president Tom Skabry asked the town board to sit down at the mediation table.

With negotiations stalled, Skabry said a first mediation session would take place with the CSEA on Wednesday.

CSEA members have been working without a contract; their contract expired on December 31. Originally, he said, the previous three-year contract was due to expire in 2010, but when the town faced financial hurdles, the union agreed to "open the contract" as part of negotiations and stretched it for another two years.

Although he was unable to discuss details, Skabry said the town and union have reached a stalemate on issues including salary, health benefits and various job security protections.

At the meeting, Skabry said he'd asked Town Supervisor Scott Russell and a board member if they would be willing to sit down at the mediation table to negotiate a contract. He said he'd been told the town's outside labor counsel, attorney Rich Zuckerman, would be discussing the matter during an executive session work session earlier Tuesday.

"Will town board members be attending?" he asked.

"We'll take any suggestion under advisement," Russell said.

Skabry said since the meeting was set to take place on Wednesday morning at 10 a.m., he wondered if the board could respond.

"We will take any request under advisement," Russell said.

Skabry countered, "To be honest, I think that is the problem." He said when Russell was first elected, he sat down at the table. "You helped us out. Because of that, we were able to get a contract faster, and not need mediation."

He added that if town board members attended the mediation session, they would get critical firsthand information.

Members of the CSEA applauded loudly.

On Wednesday morning, Skabry said his hope is that the town board members would attend, so that outside labor counsel and mediation would not be necessary and they could get "the ball rolling quickly."

The CSEA, Skabry added, is represented by labor specialist Guy Dicosola.

The goal, Skabry said, is to engage the town in the dialogue. "We want them to get more involved, to understand exactly what's going on at the table. We've been getting the impression that the town board is not being fully apprised of the process, and that's caused a stumbling block."

He added that there has been "absolutely no movement" by the town's labor counsel, despite the CSEA having offered counter proposals.