Dear COBA Members;

The following article appeared in the Civil Service Newspaper "The Chief" this week. Please take a moment to read, regarding our contract talks with Nassau County.

Nassau Correction Union Edgy Over Stalled Talks

By RICHARD KHAVKINE

Updated Feb 11, 2019

With negotiations on a new contract presumably about to begin, the head of the Nassau County Sheriff's Correction Officers Benevolent Association said he has been frustrated by the county's apparent reluctance to furnish key documents.

Brian Sullivan, the union's President, first asked for budgets, union agreements, workers compensation documents, health-coverage statistics and other records last June. He again wrote Christopher Nicolino, the director of the county's Office of Labor Relations, in October and then in early January.

Deal Expired in '17

Although Mr. Nicolino verbally assured him on a few occasions that the documents were on the way, he has not received even a portion of what he requested, Mr. Sullivan said.

"That's all pertinent information that we need, so we can make sure we're all on the same page," he said.

NCCOBA's last contract, covering 825 Recruits, Correction Officers, Corporals, Sergeants, Lieutenants and Captains, expired in December 2017.

Negotiations have not kicked off yet. County officials had asked COBA for dates by which to begin negotiations, but Mr. Sullivan said the union must first have an opportunity to review the requisite documents.

"We'll sit down and talk, but you have to provide me with all this information," he said. "We're just spinning our wheels here."

A message seeking comment from County Executive Laura Curran's office was not returned.

NCCOBA has what Mr. Sullivan termed "a storied history" with county officials, including the institution of a wage freeze, from 2011 through 2014, affecting all county employees and its fallout. The freeze kept hundreds of county workers at salaries at or near those offered to new employees. As a consequence, several dozen correction officers left their posts leading to a staffing shortage. COBA membership is down from about 1,100 in 2010, he said.

The Nassau Interim Finance Authority, created nearly 20 years ago to assist Nassau County officials navigate precarious finances, and which has a large say in public-sector contract  matters, has brought in an outside labor counsel to lead negotiations, a move Mr. Sullivan questioned given the county already has a law firm to aid in collective-bargaining negotiations.

"You already have these two, why are you bringing in this guy?" he said. "We're supposed to be negotiating with the county."

The lawyer, Gary Dellaverson, a former chief labor negotiator and CEO with the Metropolitan Transit Authority, as well as an FDNY Deputy Fire Commissioner, is being paid $25,000 a month, according to Newsday.

Mr. Sullivan, a Corrections Lieutenant who started with the union as a delegate in 2002, said issues dating back to the pay freeze are still to be addressed. Among those are longevity pay, which has been on hold from the time the pay freeze was instituted. Although a recent court decision ruled in favor of the union with regard to a September 2017 agreement designed to restore that compensation, Mr. Sullivan said the county indicated it would appeal that decision.

"This is the fourth contract I've dealt with," he said. "It gets worse and worse every time."

Click here to view on The Chief website

Brian Sullivan,
COBA President