Policy Overview: Taylor Law

The Taylor Law, adopted in 1967, governs collective bargaining for all public employees in New York and provides incentives to unions in exchange for prohibiting strikes.

The Triborough Amendment to the law, adopted in 1982, requires that all salaries and benefits, including salary increments, continue after a union contract has expired - a provision that is unique to New York. Through that amendment and other provisions, the law gives unions unfair advantages that can lead to unsustainable costs in the public sector.

Health care: Most public employees continue to pay little or nothing toward their health insurance premiums even as costs have risen, often by double-digit percentages. While employers in the private sector have required workers to pay an increasing share of their premiums, governments have largely been unable to negotiate these changes.

Benefits can also be out of line: In Buffalo, 60 percent of city employees and 80 percent of school employees are eligible for elective cosmetic surgery, and in 2003 and 2004, 7,500 surgeries were performed on workers or family members. City officials say eliminating the coverage could save $2 million a year but the Taylor Law makes it nearly impossible to negotiate such give-backs from unions.

Binding arbitration: Public safety unions can attempt to justify their demands for salary, benefits and working conditions to a Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) panel. The panel's decisions are binding. Contract settlements in neighboring jurisdictions can serve as a precedent for pay increases, leading to a spiraling "leveling up" effect throughout the state.

Recent studies have demonstrated that the old justification for higher benefits and pensions in the public sector - they were needed to compensate for wages lower than those in the private sector - is outdated. In 51 of New York's 62 counties, government workers collect higher average salaries than private-sector employees.

The Taylor Law should be amended to better reflect the interests of taxpayers in controlling the cost of government.

The ability of local governments to pay for salary or benefit enhancements should be the primary factor considered by PERB panels. A time limit should be imposed on Triborough protections so unions have more of an incentive to negotiate new contracts.

Lawmakers should also consider exempting Upstate from the entire Taylor Law to aid the region's distressed communities and local governments.