Taylors Law and the Right to Strike by Public Workers - Essay Example

Taylor’s law and the right to strike by public workers TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………….3 Structure and Functions of the Public Employment and Relations Board (PERB)……………5 The Rights of Public Employees in the Taylors Law………………………………………….8 The Prohibition of Strikes by the Taylor Law…………………………………………………9 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………..12 References……………………………………………………………………………………..13 Introduction A public worker is an individual who is employed by a government. The government could be a central government or local government. After several strikes in 1967, Nelson Rockefeller appointed George W. Taylor as the chairman of a commission made up of five members. The panel was designed to make a critical amendment to the Condon-Wadlin Act. The Condon-Wadlin Act is a law that came into effect after a teachers’ strike in New York City. It considered employees to have ended their employment contract whenever they went on a strike. The act also allowed for rehiring teachers but on a one-year prohibitory period1. Following the need to include transit public workers who were caught up in the strikes in 1966, George W. Taylor designed a law that was named after him. The chairman was a labor researcher who was not in great support of the public worker strikes. It is believed that other panel members did not want their name in the law as they considered the unions for public employees to be very articulate in opposing the new law2. His law gives the involved Public Employment and Relations Board that is selected by a governor the authority to solve contract disputes between the government and its workers. The Taylors law is also referred to as the fair employment act for The Public Employees and is defined as article 14 of the New York civil service law. The Taylors law gives a framework for the public employee unions basic rights and limitations3. The Taylors law does not give the public employees and their unions a voice during strikes pertaining to injustices in their working environments. The law, for example, has been quoted as being extremely unjust to municipal workers in New York. The workers claim that the law does not give the government an incentive to rectify contracts problems on a timely basis. Through binding arbitration and mediation, it ensures that public employees are punished heavily for strikes. The Taylors law fails to protect them from work stoppages an illegal act that is punishable by jail time and fines4. Although the public employees feel abandoned by the Taylors Law during strikes on contract issues, the law made better amendments to the Condon-Wadlin Act that called for the firing of the employees upon participation in strikes5. The Taylors law gives employees in the public sector the right and freedom to organize a governing union and freely appoint their union leaders6. As defined by the law, it gives public employees permission to engage and negotiate terms of agreements with the public employer7. In the case of state agencies that are designed to find an amicable solution to public employees strikes such as the Public Employment Relations Board, the law clearly defines the framework and foundation for their formation. Such foundations include the components of the boards that are made up of three members who are appointed by a County Governor8. The law also outlines that each of the appointed board members who should not be more than two from one party have to undergo vetting by the Senate. Despite the law being viewed as a source of violation of the right to bargain for better contracts as group by public employees, employers feel that they have the final say whenever their workers were caught up in strikes. Taylors Law has been under high criticism for the section 210. The section does not allow public employees in the New York State to carry out strikes related to salaries and other contract issues9. Structure and Functions of the Public Employment and Relations Board (PERB) The denial of rights to strike by public employees can be properly understood through coming to terms with the structure and functions of the Public Employment and Relations Board. Their capability in determining beyond reasonable doubt that a public employee is involved in a strike goes an extra step in failure to support their organizations during strikes10. The Taylors law gives a clear outline of the foundation and functions of the board. The Board is an independent and a neutral agency that acts primarily as a mediator in disputes relating to public employees strikes as defined by the Taylors Law. Each of the Board members is elected to serve a term of six years. The Taylors Law also states that members of the PERB should not hold any other public office in the state in order to perform their duties maximally11. The functions of the Public Employment and Relations Board include administration of the law all over the New York state, resolving representation disputes, providing impasse resolution services, adjudicate unjust practice charges and designate managerial employees12. In addition, PERB also determines the role played by public employees unions in strikes and orders forfeiture of dues13. In accordance with the Taylors law, the Public Employment and Relations Board establish the procedures that follow the provisions of section 207. After engaging the interested parties, the Board resolves disputes related to the status of employee organizations or unions representation. The status of representation of employee in employee unions is resolved to follow a formal request of any employee union, government, or a concerned public employer14. The Taylors law also gives the Public Employment and Relations Board the mandate to establish a procedure for preventative measures against uncouth practices by employer or employee organizations. This function is in line with section 209a. The procedures adopted by the board enables it to give an order to the offending party asking it to desist from the improper practice. Following an organizations’ breach of its duty of fair representation, the law gives the Public Employment and Relations Board mandate to order the processing of a claim as outlined by the parties’ grievance procedure. However, the Taylors Law does not give the Board authority to force an agreement between the troubled employees and employer organizations15. The Board is also given the authority to carry out studies and analyzing the conditions under which public employees carry out their services. In order to achieve such vital data, the Board has the mandate to request for proper assistance from the specific government involved. The Public Employment and Relations Board is also required to carry out studies on the problems encountered in the process of employee and employer representation. Studies on the challenges encountered during strike negotiations are also noted by the board16. The Public Employment Relations Board also has the function of availing key statistical data relating to salaries and wages for the employee unions and other interested parties. The board also consults the employee organizations and public service administrators in order to serve as mediators or as boards that can find improper facts and figures. As defined in the Taylors Law the Board also holds hearings and carries out investigations in order to exercise its powers. For the case of the above hearings, the board administers oaths, examines witnesses and compels the production of documents17. The Public Employment Relations Board makes and amends rules and regulations that govern internal organization and conduct of an employee and their organizations. The board also supervises and directs its powers in a manner that is not tampered by other parties such as the government. Upon any form of breaching the rules and regulations on public employee strikes, the Taylors Law exerts some penalties18. The Rights of Public Employees in the Taylors Law. During strikes, employees cannot be protected by the Taylors Law as they are seen as a possible source of discomfort for the general population they serve. The public has in its possession, rights that should not be marred by any circumstance19. Rights that would facilitate public employee strikes were not provided within the scope of the Taylors law. This in turn gives public workers a bigger reason not to organize or participate in strikes upon any disputes between their organizations and those of their employers20. The employee rights discussed above include the right of organization. This gives workers the freedom to form or join any forms of organizations of their choice. Public employees are also entitled to the right of representation by their employee organizations. The right accommodates the ability of all public employees to negotiate with their employers in order to provide proper conditions for employment21. The Prohibition of Strikes by the Taylor Law The Taylors Law does not condone strikes by an individual employee or employee organizations. The law clearly prohibits members of the public employee organizations and the unions themselves from causing or encouraging any strikes22. The Taylors Law defines criteria on which a strike occurs. During the formulation of the law, it ensured that transit workers would not get involved in strikes as their employers had a powerful tool against them. Taylors Law proposes that whenever a public employee was involved in a strike, they would be subjected to heavy fines. For instance, a strike that occurred for eleven days in 1980 amongst the transit workers resulted in their organizations charged dearly. The public employee unions were given a penalty of one million dollars. Public employees, on the other hand, were required to pay two days of their daily earnings as compensation for losses incurred by their employers during the strike. The law also gave the employers a mandate to go after deadlier sanctions for the rebel employees in a court of law23. Members of the public are considered to have been involved in strikes whenever they are absent from work without an apology or abstaining wholly from the full performance of their duties whenever a strike occurs. This criterion is called presumption. The second criterion on which public worker strikes are determined is on violations and penalties. A public employee is assumed to have breached it upon being involved in a strike. As a means of punishment, the Taylors Law states that the employee should not be subjected to removal from their public careers24. The most common penalty that is implemented by Taylors Law to public employee unions is to deny them the ability to raise its finances through monthly membership deductions from its members. In the 1980 strike by transit workers, public employee organizations announced that they lost revenue worth two million dollars25. Other forms of penalties on public employees involved in strikes are widely elaborated by the law of misconduct as breached by public employees during strikes26. The Taylors law also discourages strikes by public workers through prohibiting against consent to strike. Such an inclusion states that people holding offices or playing leadership roles such as supervision and direction of the public worker should not authorize or condone strikes. The public organizations such as employee organizations, therefore, do not have the ability to justify their strikes in terms of their employers’ informed consent27. Taylors Law does not give employees a right to strike by its inclusion of a striking event determination clause. The law ensures that a chief executive officer can determine whether a strike occurred initiated by an employee or an organization. Such mandate makes it illegal to carry out strikes in the public employee sector28. The Taylors law ensures that workers who were involved in a strike are informed about their illegal activity by the chief executive officer. Such notifications occur through certified mail that has been recorded by their relevant employers29. Public employees’ strikes continue to be affected by the huge deductions that are inflicted on them by the Taylors Law. Such deductions are carried out by the employers within the first ninety days after the determination of engagement in a strike30. The deductions are induced by the Chief Fiscal officer who reduces a part of his daily earnings. The Taylors Law goes deeper into discouraging rights in public employee strikes by allowing computer technology to deduct their amount of earnings already withheld by their employers. In attempt to justify such acts, the law claims that such deductions are made to compensate the losses incurred by the employer during the strike. Upon the determination of engagement in a strike, the public employee loses his or her rights and is subject to penalties or jail time. In more sophisticated measures to curb public employee strikes, the Taylors Law completely undermines the right to public workers strikes. It defines that a public employee and their organizations will not be compensated for man hours gone to waste during the strike aimed at their employer31. Conclusion From the analysis of Taylors Law this far, one can deduce that the law was a framework designed in order to give an orderly resolution of disputes between public employees and their employers. The law gives public employers power in controlling strikes in the sector through major penalties such as fines and jail time. Its strict stance of not condoning public sector strikes has made the control of collective bargaining a success in New York where the number of strikes has reduced amicably. The lack of frequent strikes has seen the growth of the public sector that pays twice as much compared to the private sector in most sections of the city32. Taylors Law, however, denies the public employees and their unions the right to participate in strikes that they believe are justified in order to get proper contracts. Bibliography Bickerton, Geoff. "Public Sector Unions Face Tough Fights." Canadian Dimensions, September/October, Vol. 43 Issue 5 2009: 11. McMahon, E.J. "Taylor Made: The Cost and Consequences of New Yorks Public-Sector Labor Laws." EmpireCentre, October 17, 2007. PERB. NYS PERB STATUTE. 12 8, 2013. http://www.perb.ny.gov/stat.asp (accessed May 4, 2015). Pericone, Joanna. "Purpose for Taylor Laws Strike Provision: Redefining "Strike" in New York Public Sector and Employment Law." Albany Government Law Review, September 15, 2012. Samuelsen, John. "Public Employees Need the Right To Strike." Labornotes, January 04, 2012. Worth, Robert F. "THE TRANSITSHOWDOWN: THE TAYLOR LAW; Powerful Tool to Use Against Striking Employees." The New York Times, December 13, 2002. Read More