Opinion

Pattern bargaining is a bad deal

In July 2007, the city gave the union representing police sergeants a deal it couldn’t refuse — raises totaling 24% over six years.

The unusually long and generous $200 million contract brought basic pay for veteran sergeants above $100,000.

But it completely ignored the long-term ramifications of the pattern setting award, conservative watchdogs have asserted — and taxpayers are paying the price.

At the time of the deal, the economy and real estate market were booming. City negotiators believed that the contract would help to finally entice the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association back to the bargaining table after years of bitter feuds with that union. The city thought cops were sure to get jealous after seeing their bosses get hefty raises.

Mayor Bloomberg also noted that the sergeants’ contract would provide the city “stability and knowledge of the future” to help solidify budget projections. The contract set the parameters for the uniformed pattern for 2009 and 2010, he added.

But it’s that “stability” that is now threatening to cripple the city’s finances and harnessing efforts for pension reforms.

“It locks in the city costs, but the city’s revenues fluctuate from month to month,” said Nicole Gelinas, a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

While the city’s finances have plummeted, the city’s other unions have steadfastly demanded those same raises despite the wrecked economy. Now, the city faces a $5 billion-plus budget gap projected for the next fiscal year — and an untenable contract pattern.

“They stand together and succeed together,” Gelinas said, referring to the unions. “The city really should be looking at them uniquely.”

’’While salaries in the private sector have largely been frozen, “maintaining the pattern” means that the city has doled out the same fat raises to several unions, including the biggest labor organization District Council 37, just as Lehman Brothers was collapsing. Those deals have largely come without any major work rule concessions.

“The whole philosophy of pattern bargaining does not serve the city taxpayers,” said Gelinas. “We are depriving ourselves of something important, which is cut your costs in a downturn.” The city has long used the system of pattern bargaining to avert unions from leapfrogging each other for additional raises and benefits.

“Why has it existed for 120 years? Because it creates sanity,” said Michael Axelrod, a labor attorney who represents city firefighters and detectives.

’The city is actually not forced to make the same offer to every union, though.

“Patterns can be broken, but it does make it difficult for the employer because there’s a precedent,” said Jerome Lefkowitz, chairman of the state public employees board, who was part of a team that drafted the Taylor Law in 1967. “It takes some hard bargaining and guts and they may not be successful.”

That hard-line approach appears unlikely.

Despite the worst economy in nearly four decades, city Labor Commissioner James Hanley has admitted that the administration has allocated money to raise teacher salaries by 8% over the next two years. Those projected raises would have to be picked up by already strained taxpayers, fiscal watchdogs point out.

“Essentially, what’s happening is the private sector is bearing virtually all the burden of this financial downturn,” said Steven Malanga, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. “Through this incredibly long and deep recession, there has been virtually nothing asked of the public sector.”