THE IMPACT OF TAYLOR LAW IN NEW YORK STATE

The Impact of Taylor Law in New York State

Table of Contents

THESIS STATEMENT1

INTRODUCTION1

DISCUSSION6

PUBLIC SECTOR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING IN NEW YORK8

THE TRANSFER OF INTEREST ARBITRATION FROM OCB TO PERB13

WORK CITED18

The Impact of Taylor Law in New York State

Thesis Statement

Taylor's position also was in accordance with his opinion that the strike helped maintain grass roots democracy, and thus helped to preserve the private enterprise system.

Introduction

As Professor Taylor told this writer, his experiences in observing America's race with Russia in the space program obstructed by a small group of unionized electricians at Cape Canaveral during the early 1960's turned him away from support of public sector strikes in which the Nation's future or a city's safety and welfare were concerned. Many of Taylor's professional associates who admired and supported his views on the role of the strike in the private sector did not agree with his stand against the use of the strike by public sector workers. This paper discusses the impact of the Taylor Law in New York State upon public collective bargaining organizations and their leaders.

Discussion

Today's global society appears to be truly fragmented by non-negotiable demands. We sense an inability to solve national and international problems involving changing social values, economic dislocations, ethnic clashes, and myriad other issues. At the same time, leadership to secure consensus to help our citizenry seems to be in short supply. The United States and the international community of nations could certainly benefit from the wisdom and example of George W. Taylor, "Father of American Arbitration," a true humanist, and a renaissance man. (Atleson1998 )

Upon the completion of his Korean War appointment, Taylor was named as arbitrator of internal CIO jurisdictional disputes in 1952. It seems that the labor movement had recognized his fairness, even in the midst of the struggle by individual unions to expand their jurisdiction to more companies and industries. Taylor was quite successful at handling the interunion disputes, which, if not settled within the movement itself, would have had to be taken before the National Labor Relations Board. It is significant that the unions abided by Taylor's decisions, and his early work served as the model for handling union internal disputes after the AFL and CIO reunited in 1955. (Atleson1998 )

President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Taylor as Chairman of the Presidential Board of Inquiry for the national steel strike of 1959, a disastrous work stoppage that had resulted primarily from the inability of labor and management to communicate. Following that difficult assignment, Taylor became involved with another future Labor Hall of Fame honoree, Henry J. Kaiser, through Kaiser's brother Edgar, in the establishment of a long-term labor relations plan for Kaiser Steel.

Henry Kaiser had contributed to winning World War II by building great numbers of ships. His productive results had been facilitated by Taylor's creative management of labor problems as chairman of the War Labor Board. It therefore was not hard for Edgar Kaiser, president of Kaiser Steel, to turn to Professor Taylor in ...