Olympic Regional Development Authority finally moves on contract

LAKE PLACID, NY (07/02/2013)(readMedia)-- The Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) has agreed to enact a contract CSEA members ratified more than a year ago, after being cited by the state Public Employment Relations Board (PERB).

PERB had ruled in May that ORDA bargained in bad faith when it refused to ratify the contract.

"What ORDA did was wrong and now they have made it right, said CSEA President Danny Donohue. "It's a shame it took them so long to treat our members fairly and with respect."

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 wallets, to the resort town and CSEA was considering moving the conference elsewhere due to the stalled negotiations. Many members of ORDA's Board of Directors' own businesses benefit from the influx of cash the union conference brings.

CSEA members covered by the contract ratified the agreement in February 2012. ORDA President and CEO Ted Blazer informed the union that the authority's board would act on the tentative agreement at its June 2012 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 came 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.

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