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Hello
everyone! As
I am writing this article, it is almost 50 degrees and
the snow has all melted from our only snowfall of the
winter so far. Not
bad for late January and I hope this mild winter
continues well into February.
Speaking of February, the 1st of
February is the second of the two “trigger dates”
regarding the labor concessions that County Executive
Mangano has stated will be required to prevent layoffs
and furloughs in 2012.
The SOA has been told that our share of the
concessions for 2012 is approximately $13 million, which
comes out to approximately $35,000 per SOA member in
2012 in addition to our currently frozen wages.
At the present time the PBA has been speaking to
the County in an attempt to reach a deal but the SOA has
not had any meetings.
To my knowledge, we have not been contacted by
the County in weeks in an attempt to reach some kind of
settlement although what they ask for is not only
unrealistic, it is insulting to EVERY hard working
member of the SOA. The
rumors are everywhere about deals being made and
retirement incentives coming out soon. At the present
time they are all rumors, and we have no facts to back
them up.
Speaking
of insulting, I also find the actions of the Republican
members of the County Legislature not only insulting but
sickening. In
case you are unaware, the Republican majority
unanimously passed an ordinance in late 2011 allowing
County Executive Mangano to modify both the 2011 and
2012 budgets regarding employee headcount. This means
that these programmed robots gave County Executive
Mangano the authority to lay off employees as he sees
fit due to the budget crisis.
Hundreds of CSEA employees were demoted or laid
off in late December due to this legislation, and many
more members of their union and possibly some from the
PBA might be laid off in February.
One of these Republican legislators is a former 1st
vice president of this union collecting a nice pension
and another, who just lost his election, was rewarded by
the party with a six figure legal job at NUMC.
These pretenders want to balance the books of the
County totally on the backs of the union employees, but
they sure do know how take care of themselves.
As a longtime Republican, it is tough for me to
digest their actions. Their Presiding Officer, elected
by them, is an embarrassment in every sense of the word.
In recent
weeks, there have been several changes at the top of the
Department. Welcome
to Commissioner Thomas Dale and Assistant Commissioner
Robert Hart. I
wish them well, because if they are successful in
improving the Department, we all benefit.
That said, my feeling is that these positions
should have been filled with capable, high-ranking
members of the SOA.
I would also like to congratulate Tom Krumpter on
his promotion to the position of 1st Deputy
Commissioner, and the following retirees: Tony Repalone,
Jimmy Granelle, Bill Heffernan, Bill Krupa and Bruce
Duryee. I
wish all of the retirees many years of health and
happiness in your retirement.
In
closing, I would like to remind everyone that the next
two open meetings are March 7th and May 2nd.
There is no open meeting in April.
Try and stop down to Peppercorns for the meeting
and some food and drink as well.
Also, if you are not on our e-mail list, please
call the SOA office because all of our updates are sent
to everyone on the mailing list.
Last but certainly not least, I hope the New York
Giants bring home another Super Bowl championship on
February 5th!!!
They are on a run and a 4th Super Bowl
victory would really put them in the elite of the NFL.
GO GIANTS!! Hitting
in one of the pools would be nice too.
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Hello everyone!
I would like to start by thanking all of the SOA
members, active and retired who attended the union rally
on October 17. Seeing
all of those blue rally shirts as we walked up Franklin
Avenue made me feel nothing but pride in being a member
of the Nassau County Police Department.
I would also like to thank all the members of the
other Nassau County unions as well as other union
members that showed up from around New York State.
I can never remember a rally of this type where
both public and private sector unions joined together in
this fashion but then again, I can never remember
another County Executive anywhere in this great country
trying to violate the United States Constitution, which
guarantees contracts.
Ed Mangano’s attempt to introduce the Fiscal
Reform Act of 2012 is not only anti-American and
illegal, it is also an insult to every hard working
union worker in Nassau County.
If ever approved by the Nassau County
Legislature, Ed Mangano could slice and dice our
negotiated contract anyway he sees fit.
This brings me to something that
was said at the rally by several of the speakers.
“Remember in November” was a constant theme meaning
that it is more important than ever to get out and vote
this year as the entire Nassau County Legislature is up
for election. For
the most part, we endorsed almost all of the Democrats
running for the legislature.
We decided on no endorsement in several of the
races and endorsed the only Republican Legislator who
gave his word publicly that he would never vote for
police layoffs, Joe Belesi.
Included in this publication is the entire list
of political endorsements by the SOA.
These endorsements will also be mailed to you at
home in an SOA political newsletter prior to Election
Day. Please
support our endorsed candidates as we feel these
candidates see the big picture and are not trying to
blame or bad mouth us for every problem that occurs in
Nassau County. Just
take a listen to the Majority Leader of the legislature,
Republican Legislator Peter Schmitt, and take notice how
he talks about us like we are garbage.
He is extremely unprofessional and nothing more
than a bully. Nassau
County deserves much better than politicians like him so
once again, please get out the vote for our endorsed
candidates!
I would like to remind everyone of
the next two SOA open meetings.
The next open meeting at Peppercorns will be held
on November 2nd.
At that meeting will be the annual turkey raffles
so I encourage you to come on down to hear the latest
SOA news, have some dinner and a drink, and maybe win
the raffle too. The
December meeting is of course the annual holiday party
to be held at the Garden City Hotel on December 14th.
Hard to believe but the holidays are quickly
approaching!
In closing, I hope everyone is
enjoying the fall season. I always like this time of
year as the baseball playoffs are in full gear and both
the NFL and college football are heating up.
No New York team in the World Series this year
but the Giants are 4-2 and the Jets are 3-3.
Even my favorite team, Notre Dame is 4-2 although
they have a big game this week against USC.
Go Irish!
Thanks, Greg
I
Rest
in Peace, Dad....
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