CSEA files suit against Astorino, board over Section 8 layoffs
Westchester County’s largest union, CSEA, filed suit this week in state Supreme Court claiming County Executive Rob Astorino didn’t have the authority to ax 38 workers and shutter the program after the Board of Legislators restored them during the budget process.
Civil Service Employees Association Unit 9200, which represents roughly 4,000 workers, wants the program restored and those jobs back — with pay and benefits.
“He ignored the law that created the budget and went off on his own,” Steven Crain, an Albany-based attorney with CSEA, said today. “He doesn’t have the authority to act on his own when the legislature approved the program.”
While the suit was expected, it’s the latest fight over the county executive’s authority to change programs approved by the county board.
Leading up to his budget announcement in November, Astorino canceled the Section 8 Housing Voucher Program contract with the state on the grounds that it cost too much money. The board later restored those jobs: Astorino vetoed, they overrode, but he laid the workers off citing a lack of contract or work to do.
In a bit of political maneuvering, the board’s appointments committee earlier this week rejected Astorino’s pick for planning commissioner, Ed Buroughs. Democrats cited the Section 8 problems as the main reason.
Read more tomorrow in The Journal News.
| 
Email This
Advertisements
Sue their Azzzzzzes!!!
csea, another useless entity that needs to be dismantled. The real danger to this nation are the union thugs.
The CSEA is the enemy of the taxpayer.
Hey, CSEA, perhaps if your other 3970 members made a small sacrifice in their precious benefits, perhaps these jobs could have been saved!
The real enemy here is what it’s always been: the top 1% of the super-wealthy who make sure they have extra upon extra, while they layoff working people to maintain their profit margin. Go ahead – gut the unions, reign in the lawyers, shrink Hollywood and academia. They’re all that’s standing in the way of the Conservative States of America in all of its glory. Ban abortion, re-establish the death penalty. No pensions, no medicare/medicaid. Privatize social security and hope the stock market don’t crash. Censor movies and TV shows. Superimpose patriotism in place of policy discussion. If you have a job, any job, you’ll be quiet and be d—- glad you have a job. You’re not in control, buddy, The big boys are. You’ll pay the gasoline price we call for, or you’ll stay home. Will give you the NFL, plenty of beer, and you can work hard for 45 years, and good luck if you can make it after that.
Yessir. In quest of the Conservative America you so deeply desire, you will wreck America.
why don’t we just fire the county executive instead. that will save lots of jobs and also relieve the taxpayers. its always the people with money and power that make things so difficult for those struggling to make ends meet. The board was gonna give us taxpayers a 2% tax levy in their budget and he decides to ignore the boards budget and do what he wants to do anyway and give us a 1% levy. Golf range only goes up by a dollar while people like my neighbors have to pay an extra $6 – $20 dollars a week for parent share of child care. I say if the county exec cannot follow orders than he should step down willingly or be voted out.
Hello, I heard they are bringing back some dept of Environmental Facilities employees. I do not know how many. They will be labors… Unbelievable, 25 years on the job and a Laborer.. Only in WESTCHESTER..!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just sue everybody. Sue, sue, sue. CSEA is nuts. Should I just mail my $17k property tax check to the CSEA? My apologies to the hard working, under-paid workers.