MONTICELLO, NY — The law firm of Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein issued a press release on September 5, claiming a victory for Laborers’ Local 17 in New York State Supreme Court, when Sullivan County Justice Stephan G. Schick rejected a challenge by Sullivan County to prevent the union from arbitrating a dispute involving the failure of Sullivan County to maintain a workforce of 128 employees in the County’s Department of Public Works (DPW).

According to the press release, “The case stems back to 2010 when Sullivan County requested and obtained significant financial concessions from Local 17 in exchange for its promise to maintain the DPW workforce at 128. Despite the fact that the Sullivan County Legislature budgeted for all 128 positions, Sullivan County is trying to obtain all of the financial concessions made by Local 17 without keeping its only obligation under the agreement to maintain 128 employees in the DPW unit. Judge Schick ruled in his August 26 decision that the dispute is subject to arbitration under Local 17’s collective bargaining agreement with the county.”

Todd Diorio, business manager of Laborers’ Local 17, said, “The county’s unsuccessful attempt to avoid its agreement with Local 17, despite the county reaping all the substantial financial benefits of that agreement, is an unfortunate waste of taxpayer dollars.”