Olympic Regional Development Authority acted in bad faith

ALBANY, NY (06/05/2013)(readMedia)-- The state Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) has ruled that the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) bargained in bad faith when it refused to ratify a contract they negotiated with CSEA.

"To negotiate a contract and then refuse to ratify it is the very definition of bad faith bargaining," said CSEA President Danny Donohue. "What ORDA did was unfair to its workers who have every right to expect their employer to be serious about negotiations that affect their lives."

CSEA and the authority reached tentative agreement on a successor labor contract between the parties in January 2012, three months before the union's Statewide Conference on Occupational Safety and Health was set to take place in Lake Placid. The union conference brought 1,000 union members, and their pocketbooks, to the resort town and CSEA was considering moving the conference elsewhere due to the fact that negotiations had reached a standstill. Many members of ORDA's board of directors own businesses that benefit from the influx of cash the union conference brings.

CSEA members covered by the contract ratified the agreement the following month. ORDA President and CEO Ted Blazer informed the union that the authority's board would act on the tentative agreement at its June 19 meeting but, without giving the union any excuse or explanation, never placed the agreement on the agenda for a vote.

CSEA filed an improper practice charge against the authority arguing that ratification of a tentative agreement, being part of the bargaining process, is subject to the same standards of good faith as the bargaining itself.

Administrative Law Judge Jean Doerr agreed with the union and, on May 22, ordered ORDA to execute the tentative agreement, finding the Authority had waived its right to ratify.

The ruling comes despite attempts by the Cuomo administration to interfere with the case. The Governor's Office of Employee Relations advised the authority to refuse to stipulate to any facts, including those already in evidence.

Donohue said the foot-dragging should end now.

"What ORDA did was wrong. We know it. PERB knows it. And they know it," Donohue said. "It's time for them to do what's right and implement this contract now."

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