One of the most impressive victories was the restoration of almost $2 billion in cuts to the state budget.  This resounding victory displayed the strength and solidarity of the labor movement and clearly showed what can be accomplished when labor works together. 

The New York State AFL-CIO was also successful in putting a stop to measures that called for permanent solutions to the temporary budget crisis.  Measures that called for the elimination of binding arbitration, prevailing rate and the Wicks law were all defeated.  These proposals were all attempts to use the current fiscal crisis as a means to end these long held and necessary labor protections. 

Labor was also able to claim victory on a few other issues:

• In the Bronx, the water filtration resolution means thousands of jobs and more than $200 million in funding.
• In Buffalo, a Financial Control Board is being developed to consider the interests of labor unions.  The city would not have been able to meet its payroll obligation, putting thousands of workers in jeopardy of not being paid or laid off.  Unions involved in this matter did not want to be on the Control Board, but wanted to ensure that their needs and concerns would be addressed.

Looking ahead, the New York State AFL-CIO is looking forward to favorable action by Governor Pataki on a number of bills important to working men and women, namely, binding arbitration legislation, various pension bills and several bills supported by their Taylor Law Reform Task Force, such as the Weingarten bill – all of which await the Governor’s signature. 

Furthermore, the flurry of activity toward the end of the session surrounding the MTA resulted in needed scrutiny of the fare hike enacted by the MTA Board.  The fact that the transportation unions led the fight for a fare roll back is a credit to their interest in operating the system for all working men and women who need to take public transportation to work each day. 

The New York State AFL-CIO has announced a concrete program for affordable housing and there is companion legislation that will further labor’s cause.  They continue to urge the Legislature and Governor Pataki to prioritize middle income housing – the shortage of which is the single most important force in driving young New Yorkers out of the state while keeping elderly New Yorkers in houses they can no longer afford, thus damaging the property tax base on a recurring basis. 

Unfortunately, nothing was done this year on the issue of redefining who needs affordable housing, namely middle income workers.  This state still desperately needs a crash program of middle income housing construction in order to hold middle class workers in the state. 

Since the end of the session the New York State AFL-CIO has supported legislation that takes into account the housing needs of these workers and opposed legislation that did not address those same needs, particularly those of middle income workers in suburban areas.