To All Delegates and Members
PERB NAMES ARBITRATION PANEL
IN NYC POLICE IMPASSE
The New York State Public Employment Relations Board (PERB or Board) today designated a three-person arbitration panel with power to determine terms and conditions of employment for police officers in the City of New York.
PERB designated Eric J. Schmertz as the public or neutral member of the panel, after the City and the PBA of the City of New York, Inc., alternately struck names from a list of arbitrators provided by the Board in accordance with provisions of the State’s Taylor Law. Mr. Schmertz, of Mt. Kisco, New York (Westchester County), has been a private labor relations mediator and arbitrator since 1962, and has authored over 10,000 decisions to date. After employment during the 1950’s with the American Arbitration Association, he served from 1960-68 as Executive Director and Member of the New York State Board of Mediation, and from1968-80, as one of the three impartial members of the New York City Office of Collective Bargaining. A Distinguished Professor of Labor Law at Hofstra University School of Law from 1981-88, Mr. Schmertz served as its Dean from 1982-89. Following a short stint as NYC Commissioner of Labor Relations, he was appointed a member of PERB, a position he held from 1991-97. He has served as a neutral in numerous high profile public and private sector disputes and contract impasses, involving, among others, New York City’s fire fighters; day care workers and private haulers; Philadelphia’s transport workers; state employees in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Illinois; Chicago’s fire fighters; and Radio City Music Hall’s Rockettes.
The panel that Mr. Schmertz will chair is tri-partite in nature, and includes, along with the neutral chair, one member selected directly by the City, and one directly by the PBA. As such, PERB designated the City’s selection, Carole O’Blenes, as the public employer panel member, and Jay W. Waks, as the employee organization’s panel member. Ms. O’Blenes most recently was a member of the Proskauer Rose law firm in New York City. Mr. Waks presently is a member of the Kaye Scholer firm, also in New York City.
The City and the PBA, which represents the NYPD’s 23,000 officers, are currently operating under the terms of an arbitration award that expired on July 31, 2002. The parties commenced negotiations in September, 2003, and a mediator was appointed this past May, after PBA declared talks to be at impasse. After mediation did not bring about an agreement, the PBA petitioned PERB for appointment of the public arbitration panel. The panel is empowered to hold hearings on all matters related to the dispute and is charged with making a “just and reasonable” determination in accordance with criteria set forth in the Taylor Law. The panel’s determination is final and binding upon the parties, and its duration cannot exceed two years from the end date of the previous interest arbitration award.
