Binding arbitration in public sector unions

Public officials required to submit to binding arbitration.

Public Sector Inc The continuing budget crisis in states and cities has prompted some notable reform efforts, including pension and health benefit cuts that begin to address long-term problems. But one expensive mandate that's gone almost completely unchallenged has been binding arbitration, the process by which unelected arbitrators get to rule on pay and benefits for workers when unions and government reach an impasse in contract negotiations. In many places around the country, binding arbitration has been slanted to favor workers and drive up costs. In testimony before California's Little Hoover Commission, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, for instance, described how arbitrators helped to spread the pension mess that now affects many California cities by granting rich pensions in places where city officials balked at the cost.

Reed noted that an outside arbitrator in 2007 increased San Jose firefighters' pension maximum from 85 to 90 percent of final compensation and made the change retroactive to the day the firefighter began working for the city. On a going forward basis, this benefit increase would have cost San Jose $5 million a year, Mayor Reed said. By making it retroactive, the City of San Jose, and ultimately the taxpayers, was faced with a $30 million unfunded liability for the prior service cost. "Historically, arbitrators come into town, spend our money and leave," Reed told the commission.

Which numbskull governor tried to enforce binding arbitration? If you thought Jerry Brown the youngster, you are wrong. It was Gray Davis, that same bozo who was thrown out of office for being dumber than Arnold, a hard feat indeed:

High Court Throws Out Binding Arbitration Law LA TImes Public safety workers' unions lose key case before state justices. April 22, 2003|Maura Dolan | Times Staff Writer SAN FRANCISCO — California cannot require city and county governments to submit to binding arbitration during labor disputes with law enforcement officers and firefighters, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday. The unanimous ruling -- a victory for local government officials -- struck down a 3-year-old law, which was sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem John Burton and signed by Gov. Gray Davis. The justices ruled that the law, which had been sought by labor unions for decades, violated the state Constitution.

Thank you to the California Supreme Court.