Superior Court Refuses Town of Rockland's Latest Effort To Thwart Interest Arbitration

The Town of Rockland's attorneys have fought mightily to avoid the statutory process designed to ensure fair collective bargaining for police and fire fighters. Union Attorneys Leah Barrault and Patrick Bryant have so far succeeded in forcing the Town to honor its statutory bargaining obligations to Rockland Fire Fighters IAFF Local 1602. In their latest victory, the Superior Court of Suffolk County rejected the Town's "Emergency Motion" to prevent a scheduled interest arbitration hearing from proceeding.

The court case represents the latest failed effort of Rockland in the past several months to derail interest arbitration. Several months ago, the Town filed, and ultimately withdrew, a charge of bad faith bargaining against Local 1602. Later, the Town charged Local 1602 with violating state law by failing to produce tax records, sleep schedules, and residency documents of individual fire fighters. The Department of Labor Relations dismissed this charge. The Town filed another charge, alleging bad faith bargaining against the union. This charge has not been acted upon by the state agency.

In October, the Joint Labor Management Committee determined after an investigation that the impasse in negotiations between Local 1602 and the Town presented a potential threat to public welfare. The JLMC therefore ordered the parties to have their contract settled by a three-member arbitration panel.

The Town filed suit in Suffolk Superior Court against the JLMC to prevent the arbitration panel from settling the contract. The Town even took the extraordinary step asking the Court to enjoin the agency from allowing the hearing to proceed. The Court ruled that the Town filed its request at the wrong time and failed to provide sufficient evidence in support of its request.