Waste and the City
By Henry J. Stern
November 18, 2002
 
    When Mayor Bloomberg unveiled his financial plan Thursday, he was asked about cutting fat from agencies. He replied that he believes "corruption, waste and meaningless programs" are rare.  He believes that because, in his 10 months as mayor, no one has called these issues to his attention.

      Public servants who have devoted their professional lives to city government know there is a great deal of waste and redundancy. One answer, clearly, is reforming work rules to increase efficiency. But people who have been on the front lines also know that this long-sought goal is one of the most difficult to achieve.

      Work-rule reform was a major objective of the Lindsay, Koch and Giuliani administrations, all of which I served. We tried our best. But the implacable opposition of the city's unions frustrated most attempts.

      One reason is that union leaders are extremely reluctant to agree to changes, no matter how reasonable. They know that rivals for their office are likely to accuse them of giving away the workers' rights, no matter how trivial. Reducing cleanup time by five minutes can threaten a unionist's career. That is why collective bargaining is not effective in achieving work-rule reforms. Yet over the years, the most minute details of agency operations, staffing, promotion, transfer rights and specification of duties have been written into union contracts.

      What's more, any procedure that an agency follows, whether written or not, can be described as a prior practice, and any modification can be taken to collective bargaining, which means it's unlikely to be accepted.

      The city also loses out through arbitration, which is supposedly impartial. The panels consist of a city arbitrator, a union arbitrator and an arbitrator chosen by both sides. But even arbitrators like to keep their well-paid jobs. They know they won't be chosen again if they disappoint the unions, so they often try to split the difference. Even if a demand is without merit, a union might get part of it through arbitration. And next year, another arbitrator gives the rest.

      To obtain fairness in the workplace, the city must work strenuously to counteract the inherent advantage and greater experience of its organized employees. There is no evidence of that so far this year. It is true the administration is concerned with other problems, but there is enough staff there to conduct a serious effort, if they know how to do it or talk to people who do.

      Work-rule reform also would give the administration credibility in showing that it is doing all it can to make the system work better. People are more likely to put up with tax increases and service cuts if they believe the city is trying to reform what everyone knows is a massive and sometimes uncaring and lazy bureaucracy.

            It is not too late to begin work in this essential area of government. It's done by what is called management.

Henry J. Stern is the director of NYCivic.