Game theory says if two opponents are forced to play by different rules, the rules will determine the outcome, not the merit of the contestants.
That in a nutshell is the dilemma facing the school boards of Westchester County, and New York State in general. There is one set of rules governing the school boards and another more favorable set of rules governing the New York State United Teachers union (“NYSUT”). These two sets of rules, which are imposed from the top by the State government, guarantee the long-term success of the teachers union and its agenda.
Under state law, school board must be non-partisan. That means that they cannot be affiliated with a political party. As a non-partisan entity, school boards are prohibited from giving money to political candidates. NYSUT, on the other hand, is allowed to give campaign contributions. In 2010, the NYSUT and its affiliates spend $5,000,000 on campaign contributions and lobbying, according to the NY Post. The school boards spent $0.
In the world of political influence which speaks louder ? $5,000,000 or nothing.
The net effect of this ban on political contributions is that there is not a single Democrat in the New York State Assembly (some people say on a single member of either party, though I find that hard to believe) who will carry a tenure reform bill.
School boards also have to abide by anti-trust legislation, while unions are exempt. If the Dobbs Ferry School Board sits down with the Irvington School Board and they agree on a joint wage and benefit negotiating package for their teachers, they have broken the law. However, if the Dobbs Ferry and the Irvington locals of the teachers union sit down with or without a state union organizer and develop a joint negotiation strategy, they are protected by the law. Surprisingly, unions have been exempt from anti-trust legislation since the Clayton Act was passed by Congress in 1907. They have had this advantage for more than 100 years; no wonder they have been able to secure compensation and benefits for their members that are generous.
In New York State, labor disputes involving public employees, such as teachers, are settled by arbitration, because public employees are not allowed to strike. Since school boards are forbidden from developing state- or county-wide negotiations positions, while the unions are permitted to coordinate their negotiations state- and county-wide, arbitration results in the unions cherry picking the most favorable settlement that they can achieve at the local level and then presenting that result as ‘pattern’ to the arbitrators in other local negotiations. The consequence is that the unions can negotiate with the richest, dumbest or most naïve school district in an area and get the best possible settlement and then force that unfavorable settlement on the adjoining school boards. The school boards are powerless to change ‘pattern’ once it is set. Plus the arbitrators are incented to be ‘favorable’ to the union because the union must approve their appointment.
The consequence of this rigged system that is so prejudicial to the unions is that teachers (and other public employees) have priced themselves out of a job. The only lever that a school board has today is to fire teachers to cut personnel costs. Last year, more than 22,000 teachers lost their jobs in New York State, yet the union is insisting on pay increases in excess of inflation.
It took the automotive unions thirty years and bankruptcy to understand that jobs are more important than uncompetitive compensation, especially unproductive pensions and retiree healthcare benefits. How long will it take the NYSUT?
Which brings us to the last piece of this puzzle, Governor Cuomo’s most curious real estate tax cap. It is surprising that a Democrat would push such legislation. It clearly addresses the symptoms of overspending, not the causes. But the tax cap is supported by 71% of the voters, so it is good politics. In addition, the tax cap does not limit unfunded mandates, only the ability of the local authorities to tax and pay for them, so the tax cap will lead to chaos and conflict.
That is exactly what Andrew Cuomo wants.
Recognizing that the Democratic controlled Assembly cannot be counted on the do the right thing, the tax cap appears to be designed to force action by ‘starving the beast’ – an oddly Republican strategy for the son of the quintessential ‘tax and spend’ Democrat. Take Tom Abinanti, the Member of the Assembly from my home district, the 92nd, which includes the Towns of Greenburgh and Mount Pleasant. This man owes his job to special interest groups, especially the unions. Look at his campaign contributions online: COBA, CWA DISTRICT ONE PAC, IBEW, NYS AFL-CIO, NYSNA, VOTE/COPE NYS UNITED TEACHERS-STATE ACCOUNT ($3,800), WESTCHESTER CORRECTION OFFICERS BENEVOLENT ASSOC, and, WESTCHESTER HISPANIC LAW ENFORCEMNT. He can’t be counted on the serve the common good or the average taxpayer. He will do little or nothing to help the school boards manage their budgets and protect students, e.g., rescind unfunded mandates, excessive bureaucracy, hundreds of unproductive reports etc.
He regularly meets with school board representatives and talks and talks and tries to convince them that he is working to get them more money at the margin, but when asked to help fix the fundamental problems like tenure reform (it costs $200,000 of ‘due process’ to fire a bad teacher) he says “No.” When asked if he would carry legislation to reform unaffordable pensions, he says “No” (won’t even consider eliminating overtime from the pension calculation). When asked if he would ask public employees to pay more of rising healthcare costs, he says “No”. When asked to limit unfunded mandates or rescind recent ones such as the one giving teachers ½ day off with pay – teachers who have the summer off anyway – to get a mammogram or colonoscopy, he says emphatically “No”.
Tom Abinanti’s only prescription for New York is to tax the rich. Tom is convinced that the millionaire tax is the solution to all of New York’s problems and that ‘the money is there’. It is just a matter of getting it through ‘progressive taxation’.
Andrew Cuomo understands that the New York Assembly is stacked with people like Tom Abinanti, who will do the bidding Sheldon Silver, the Democratic Assembly Speaker. Cuomo has figured out that he needs to create a crisis as a way to make them comprehend reality. The tax cap will force school boards all over New York to lay-off thousands and thousands of teachers, the only shock treatment that the unions and their representatives in Albany will understand.
Once the crisis starts, maybe the legislature will pass the necessary reforms that will re-balance the playing field between the school boards and the unions, which in fact, is the true long-term solution.