Nassau, Cops Choose Binding Arbitration
After almost two years of rancorous contract negotiations, Nassau County and the Police Benevolent Association (PBA) agreed yesterday to submit to binding arbitration by a five member panel, and drop State Supreme Court and state Public Employment Relations Board cases against each other. Although the union has taken a risk by agreeing to allow the panel to reconsider contract provisions that had already been negotiated to agreement, it won a major victory in convincing County Executive Thomas Suozzi to cease his opposition to a generously pro-union arbitrator that the PBA had long sought to include on any arbitration panel. Although the PBA strongly opposed to Suozzi?s demands for a retroactive salary freeze, and givebacks on minimum staffing levels, sick days, work schedules and night shift bonuses, there is some optimism that the agreement to arbitrate signals a shift towards less antagonistic relations between the two parties.