January 07, 2011 3:43 PM

Bloomberg: It’s too hard to fire, punish city workers

A mayoral task force calls NYC’s civil service system ill-suited for a modern workforce and suggests changes to get rid of the bad and retain and promote the best. Unions howl.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg released a 23-step plan Friday to overhaul civil service work rules and make it easier for the city to fire and discipline workers—drawing immediate fire from municipal union leaders.
The mayor’s Workforce Reform Task Force said in its report that civil service exams are not suited for the modern workforce and called for abolishing state oversight of the city’s hiring.
The task force of 10 administration officials came up with its recommendations without input from the city’s municipal unions.
“We have the best workforce in the world, but the civil service is so antiquated that it prevents them from performing up to their abilities, costs taxpayers millions of dollars in unnecessary expenditures, and prevents us from retaining and promoting our best workers,” Mr. Bloomberg said in a statement.
Union officials said they did not receive the report until it was released publicly Friday morning and that they were not consulted by the task force. “These proposals, as currently constituted, would not reform but instead destroy key elements that make the current system fair and equitable,” said Harry Nespoli, chairman of the Municipal Labor Committee, an umbrella group of city unions.
The task force recommended getting rid of seniority in teacher layoffs and suggested major changes to how other city workers are laid off. Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, called the task force’s work “predetermined,” and said “it clearly was not an objective thing.”

Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith has been the driving force of the city’s attempts to reconfigure workplace rules, building on his experience as mayor of Indianapolis. In an article on governing.com in November, he wrote, “When we reward the mediocre, promote the less qualified, restrict problem solving discretion and turn the public’s work into a mechanical production of commodities, we demean public servants, degrade the quality of service and cheat taxpayers.”

Of the 23 proposals in the report, seven can be accomplished administratively by the city, 11 require changes in state law and five need to be negotiated via collective bargaining. A spokesman for Mr. Bloomberg said legislation would be introduced in Albany the coming months on some of the measures.
State Sen. Diane Savino, who chaired the Senate’s Civil Service and Pensions Committee when Democrats were in the majority, called the city’s proposal to end the State Civil Service Commission’s authority over hiring in the city a “nonstarter.”