Thursday, January 02, 2014

MAYOR DE BLASIO PICKS LABOR COMMISSIONER

Buried among all of the hoopla of the inauguration, we learned the other day who will be Mayor Bill de Blasio's chief labor negotiator and it is none other than Robert Linn.  Linn was Mayor Koch's chief labor negotiator and then when he left city government, he went over to the union side and bargained for the Policeman's Benevolent Association. 

Anybody expecting radical change in the city's outlook toward municipal labor contracts may end up disappointed.  Here are the bios of de Blasio's labor heads as printed in Newsday:

Bob Linn, 65
Post: Director of Labor Relations
Responsibilities: Negotiate and resolve the city's 152 expired municipal contracts.
Resume highlights: Former chief labor negotiator under Mayor Ed Koch; former New York City personnel director, overseeing civil service, recruitment and benefits; president of Linn & Logan Consulting firm, representing Chicago, Philadelphia and other major cities in labor negotiations and arbitrations; former Patrolmen's Benevolent Association's chief negotiator
 
Stanley Brezenoff, 76
Post: Special adviser to First Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris
Responsibilities: Assist Shorris in an unpaid capacity with labor relations.
Resume highlights: Former first deputy mayor under Ed Koch; former deputy mayor for operations; former president of the New York City health and hospitals corporation; former executive director of the Port Authority

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

RETRO PAY IS ABOUT MORE THAN MONEY. IT'S A BASIC QUESTION OF UNION POWER. AS MUNICIPAL WORKERS WE GIVE UP THE LEGAL RIGHT TO STRIKE, SUPPOSEDLY IN EXCHANGE FOR GOOD FAITH BARGAINING. IF WE DON'T GET RETRO PAY, WHAT WILL PREVENT FUTURE MAYORS FROM REFUSING TO NEGOTIATE IN GOOD FAITH FOR NOT JUST 4 YEARS AS BLOOMBERG DID, BUT 5 OR 10 YEARS ? RETRO PAY IS A CUTTING EDGE ISSUE !

akahnnyc said...

Bob Linn was a terrible choice...I discuss him in my latest blog post:

http://akahnnyc.blogspot.com/2014/01/bill-de-blasio-killing-us-softly.html

Linn was despised by unions in his previous stint. Awful choice by BdB

Anonymous said...

As de Blasio himself said as he sounded the dog whistle to allay fears of the elite, “I am unburdened by the support of the municipal labor unions." To add insult to injury to the workers of the city, Mayor de Blasio appointed as his chief labor negotiator Robert Linn who had a prior stint in the role during the term of the late right-wing mayor Ed Koch. During his first incarnation as labor negotiatior in New York City, he made no friends among workers. As noted in an article from 1992:

By way of rebuttal, Jeffrey A. DeLisle, president of Local 734, read to the board a letter from a New York union official who described Linn as having "lapses in credibility and trustworthiness in his dealings with a number of union leaders."

The letter, written by Vincent J. Bollon, secretary-treasurer of the International Association of Fire Fighters, said Linn virtually destroyed the good relationship between New York's municipal unions and management.