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The
Rest of the Story
To
the Editor:
I
appreciate Daniel Fitzsimmons’ story on the judge’s finding
that the Times Union twice violated labor law [“Back
to Work,” Newsfront, Aug. 26]. Mr. Fitzimmons’ story was accurate,
and he did a thorough job of finding multiple voices. He sought
out a laid-off worker and talked to at least one other colleague
at the Times Union, which was more of an effort than
most.
I was a bit surprised, however, that he put so much emphasis
on publisher George Hearst’s statements that he would appeal
and included very little information about the contents of
the judge’s ruling and how it came about. I thought your readers
might be interested in that information.
The charges were filed by the National Labor Relations Board’s
Albany office after they investigated our complaint. A trial
was held in May, and witnesses for both sides testified. The
judge reviewed both the testimony and the legal briefs filed
by the two sides before coming to the same conclusion we had:
The Times Union broke the law. Twice.
After only two days of negotiation on layoff criteria—and
before even responding to an information request we filed—the
Times Union walked employees out of the building in
July 2009. In his testimony, the company’s own lawyer said
people were walked out to “calm the atmosphere” because other
workers were asking if they would be on the layoff list and
the company wanted to reassure them. The judge correctly said
that action was taken to send an unmistakable message, these
are the people being laid off, and to hamper our ability to
negotiate over criteria.
The second legal violation occurred when the Times Union
management declared an impasse in our negotiations over layoff
criteria in September. Mr. Fitzsimmons quotes Mr. Hearst repeating
the publisher’s favorite piece of fiction, the claim that
the Guild did not provide a meaningful counterproposal.
While Mr. Fitzsimmons allowed me the opportunity to respond
that this was untrue, he left out the fact that the judge
himself rejected the untruth that Mr. Hearst continues to
repeat to every reporter. Here’s what the judge said: “Even
though the respondent (meaning the Times Union) had
presented the union with a fait accompli regarding the issue
of layoffs, the union was exhibiting signs of addressing the
respondent’s stated need for flexibility in conducting layoffs.
The next day, however, the respondent declared an impasse.”
The judge added: “The record convinces me that, rather than
exploring whether the union’s change in position could serve
as a basis to move the parties closer to an agreement on this
issue, the Respondent declared impasse on September 11, 2009,
because of its determination that the layoffs were to be conducted
by the end of that month regardless of the state of negotiations.”
If your readers are interested, they can read the judge’s
30-page decision for themselves. It is on the blog attached
to our website at albanyguild.org.
Tim
O’Brien
President
The Newspaper Guild of Albany/CW
Home
Game
To
the Editor:
Your
recent expression of support for Albany County Executive Mike
Breslin and his “bold stand” on closing the Albany County
Nursing Home (ACNH) in the face of a legislature “more concerned
about embarrassing him” rather than trying to right our “fiscal
ship of state” [Best of the Capital Region, July 29] is uninformed
and therefore inaccurate. Mr. Breslin has acted in a capricious
and arbitrary manner throughout his tenure concerning the
fiscal and administrative operations of the Albany County
Nursing Home. The county legislature acted as the ultimate
elected authority and policy maker as defined in the county
charter (Articles 2 and 3) when Mr. Breslin’s actions were
in (a bipartisan view) seen as going beyond his authority
as proscribed by the county charter. He arbitrarily went forward
in March 2009 without consulting the legislature in a letter
to the governor that he was closing the home (not within his
authority) after he had promised the resident’s families to
maintain (and even build a new nursing home) after the facility
was downsized by Berger Commission recommendations in 2006
(where Breslin testified to encourage downsizing while Mr.
Connors supported maintaining beds). In June 2009 the legislature
gave the executive 90 days to come up with long-term care
plan—including a nursing home.
On Sept. 22, 2009, the legislature was to meet with County
Executive Breslin to be presented with a long-term plan, but
Breslin decided, on his own, to hold a press conference on
Sept. 10, 2009, announcing the closing of the ACNH nursing
home, in addition to sending a letter to the residents (with
their health care proxy) of the home, their families, and
employees of his intentions to close the home.
On Sept. 22, the legislature met with Breslin and announced
a resolution to add his long-term care plan that included
a nursing home. On Oct. 9, Breslin held a press conference
regarding the Albany County budget. The budget included the
laying off of County employees, mainly (70 employees) from
ACNH. He also directed the director of ACNH to address employees
and advise them that he was closing ACNH and that employees
would begin to be let go, residents would be slowly removed,
and the home would be closed by 2011.
The Albany County Legislature should be applauded for holding
Breslin’s feet to the fire as they were directed by their
constituents and the county charter. If Breslin had his way,
the home would have been closed and because of the multiple
needs of the residents and the limited bed capacity in the
Capital District, additional hundreds of residents (over 1,450
people in need of placement were sent out of Albany County
in 2007 and 2008) would have been transferred out of county
and state, away from their families, to inferior facilities
while still incurring the same expense to the county taxpayers.
The AC Nursing Home and Ann Lee Home went from state-of-the-art
long-term care facilities operating, at nearly 600 beds, with
efficiency and a balanced fiscal position that helped to underwrite
other county programs. Breslin’s tenure began a period of
decline at the homes caused by the lack of reinvestment in
the physical plant and poor management under his watch. The
NYS Department of Health study regarding the need of nursing
home beds indicate that by 2016 Albany County will have a
deficit of 69 beds (including the current 250 in ACNH). In
line with its 200-year tradition, Albany County continues
to need a nursing home as a safety net as part of a continuum
of care for the elderly, infirm and indigent population.
Renee’
Barchitta
ACNH Core Family Council member
Albany
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