NIFA Lawsuit Update

[zzzz]

Opie so true so true. You hit the nail on the head

[tensevencop]

This is like a bad dream. Lets just hope they don't send it to state courts. You would think that a 90 year old judge would have the sense to know whether or not he can rule on a state issue.

[1090cop]

I would love to know how one of the judges just doesn't show up.

[zzzz]

It all BS.... Charades. We'll lose as usual. Next stop... November elections. Pick your poison. Anybody but clueless Ed Mangano. However clueless, Ed seems pretty smart now. He hasn't paid county workers and only hired 37 cops since elected. I think that's his MO being stupid!!

[1ppnotforme]

zzzz ....to reply to your post earlier in this thread. Our current situation has EVERYthing to do with JIMMY and our board. This situation is uncomfortable for all of us, but we have done close to ZERO to make ED Mangano uncomfortable. We should have members at EVERY SINGLE event that ED holds. Holding up signs, reminding the public of the shady contractor deals and patronage positions going on in the county; reminding taxpayers of all the higher fees they are paying for everything, and all the social services that have been cut. In NYC when there were contract disputes (no where near being frozen) PD guys followed Bloomberg, and before him Giuliani around all day to make them uncomfortable. We have done NOTHING... Wait - we have held ONE rally.... ONE, and we were bunched in with the CSEA workers !!!!! JIMMY and the board are relying on this lawsuit, but doing nothing to help any other avenues along. What is the back-up plan? This board has no balls, cant think ahead, and has done NOTHING to help the membership since Jimmy was elected.
Also, this is what happens when you don't back a candidate for county exec. Look at Suffolk - their PBA backed Bellone, and even though Suffolk is in bad financial shape Suffolk was given a decent contract and they got the LIE back. Learn how to play ball, grow a set and back your man and you are rewarded.
Regardless of how this lawsuit plays out - we should ALL look forward for the upcoming FALL elections and start planning NOW. - #1 - Vote out ED, #2 - Vote out Jimmy.

[googleyes]

This whole mess is not on the PBA. Four times they worked out a deal and NIFA shot them all down like fish in a barrel. We are all frustrated but the board is not to blame here. We got stuck with clueless Ed and a NIFA board. The PBA is fighting for us and it wasn't them that illegally froze us. What good is a contract if bureaucrats are going to step in and play political football with it and stick it to us without blinking an eye. They want us divided and some are throwing their anger in the wrong direction. Jimmy and the board know how to play things but it takes time, time that is frustrating the hell out of us. They have done everthing they can do now its sit and wait. A rally WTF is another rally going to do? Everything is anti labor these days, even the people that used to support us don't anymore. If your going to point fingers point them were the belong and it certainly isn't the boards fault. Everyone wants someone to blame and that's understandable but put the blam were it belongs....Ed/Leg/NiFA!

[oscarthomas]

The PBA board must be held accountable.

[siggy]

Without the PBA board you wouldn't have half of what we have now and would be fighting to keep scraps.

[doughnut]

1ppmotforme. Ok im no rahh rahh shish boom bahh pha guy but lets examine what you said here. our current situation has everything to do with Jimmy, if Jimmy is responsible for the county's poor financial decision making, the fact that NIFA is a state controlled board, the fact that NIFA voted to freeze our wages and steps then yes he is responsible for our current situation. However its as plain as the nose on your face that he was in fact not the one responsible for this. He was also not responsible for Mangina running on the "I will not balance the budget on the backs of my employees ticket" either. Yet look at what Mangano did. Look at what the repubs voted to do with ALL contract both public and private. Unless they were lying to us, there were in fact deals in place at certain points in time, yet
NIFA, the very entity that is supposed to save the county money refused to even acknowledge the invite for sit downs with the county and the PBA. If you can explain to me in detail how following Mangina around will force nifas hand I'm in, ill be right by your side. This is not NYC where I was without a contract for half of my 10 years and following around the politicians actually put pressure on them. This is a state imposed wage freeze, out of mangina and his legislators hands. Backing mangina or Suozzi will not solve our problems, Nifa will still be here. Sure suffolk backed bellone, but suffolk does nothave a state controlled board in charge of their finances yet. You want to follow some people lets follow Cuomo lets follow the Nifa board members they are the ones holding our pay hostage. I'm not saying your ideas are bad ones they are just not practical for this particular situation. As far as the lawsuit I blame the lawyers if this becomes a state issue, then a gain the lawyers are praying this becomes a state issue.

[tensevencop]

I dont blame Jimmy for the counties financial issues but the facts are we are going to probably be frozen for 3 + plus years under his watch. At this juncture I would rather give some new guy a chance and see if he could get something done. He might end up not being able to get anything done either but at this rate i would take a gamble , we certaintly have nothing to lose.

[1ppnotforme]

All of you PRO-BOARD members on here must have short memories with your blaming of NIFA, and the 'economic situation' we have here. That is all BULL$HIT / PBA propaganda.
MANGANO SABOTAGED HIS OWN BUDGET - plain and simple.
He wanted NIFA to come in and be the 'bad guys' so he could blame them. MANGANO has the power to fix this. JUST RAISE TAXES a tiny amount. If he didn't remove the tax increases our FRIEND Tom Suozzi had in place we would have NEVER been FROZEN and NIFA wouldn't be here. MANGANO has the power to fix this, but with the lack of pressure from the board and the PBA, why would he? This is the direct result of the failures of our current PBA administration.
and p.s. - I am not asking for more Rallies, they are one shot deals. I want DAILY pressure on Mangano at all of his events, showing the PUBLIC how they are getting screwed, which they are - there is just nobody out there telling them.
.. and with regards to 'without the pba board we would be out there fighting for scraps, and everything we have, we have thanks to the board' , - this is all true except it is not thanks to THIS PBA president, we can thank the EFFECTIVE boards and presidents of the past for what we have.
Lets stop suffering from, and endorsing ... INSANITY: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
It's time for a change.

[doughnut]

We got duped by Mangina no question. However I think his stupidity and ineptness eventually brought in Nifa not his desire to have them oversee his finances. Although who knows anything is possible. And realistically if anyone thinks on here we can go around saying "just raise taxes" so I can have my raise and or step will work then we are all sadly mistaken. We knew full well this dopes anti tax stance when he was elected. Not to mention the counties "cooked" books. And even if all that is true and there was some scheme to get Nifa in and freeze our salaries do you think any pressure by the PBA will garner support to raise your salary off the county residents? Im sure all on here have heard, you make more than enough, or i pay tour ridiculous salary! Tough spot to be in. Here is the bottom line, we can not go backwards, we can only plan for today and tomorrow, and I can guarantee any plan put forth by the PBA to put public pressure on mangina to even hint at a return of the "home heating tax, general tax or any other tax increase" so you can get paid will be met by a resounding "fvck you" by both parties and the general public. I don't have the answers, if I did I'd be on an island somewhere with little umbrella drinks sitting next to some model.

[zzzz]

Heres the bottom line how i see it....even though the appeal does'nt look good now we still have to wait for the decision. It'll most likely go the county's way because of the money involved. Of course our next step would be to have our argument heard in state court which by all likely hood will indeed go against us as well. By this time an election will have happened already. In my opinion now what we need to do is back Suozzi heavily. I realize in the past we were at odds with him however, he is the one we negotiated with. He is the one that raised the taxes and got the county on solid footing. He is the one that will tell it like it is to the residents of the county as well as the unions. He also is the only one that Jimmy has negotiated with. Mangano is an idiot and Haber is unknown and will not beat suozzi in a primary. The PBA is not at fault here. If anybody is then put the blame on our attorney for going to the wrong court. We need to get political after the decision and back very publically Tom Suozzi. It'll be a total dis to Mr Ed and at this point thats exactly what we need to do..... Again my opinion

[doughnut]

Zzzz I have to agree with you, I think we should be backing Suozzi. It's crazy that had he won we might not be in this situation, we unknowingly cut our throats by voting him out. But hindsight is 20/20. As far as the appeals court grilling I'm praying the PBA attorneys made a valid argument as to why this lawsuit should be in federal court. If not i think it will be a Long protracted battle in state court. I know guys don't want to hear it but there are two other valid points in the lawsuit that have yet to be addressed by any court, and in my opinion the strongest one behind Nifa having no authority to freeze wages is the fact they went right to freezing salaries and did not explore other options, ie cuts, raising taxes etc etc. hope for the best prepare for the worst.

[tensevencop]

All I ask is if they are gonna send this to state court, do it now. Don't make us wait 2 months and delay everything further then it already is.