Federal Judiciary

PULLING A PUNCH
By Mark Thompson
markthomp@yahoo.com
Posted 10-22-08

New York County Supreme Court Justice Bruce Balter was castigated by the New York Times last November for aiming a “pointless slap” at the Transport Workers Union in a ruling handed down in response to the three-day illegal transit strike that tied the city in knots in December 2005. The Appellate Division has now modified last fall’s ruling to take a bit of the sting out of Balter’s blow, while preserving the core of the decision.

The union had gone to court to seek permission to resume the practice of automatically collecting dues from its members, and Balter had said no, at least not without a lot more than a verbal assurance from union officials that they would mend their ways. Union President Roger Toussaint had publicly conceded by then that the strike violated the state’s Taylor Law, which bars public-sector unions from striking. But Balter, unconvinced that the union would refrain from calling another strike, said he would allow the union to resume automatic collection of membership contributions, a practice known as the dues check-off, only if Toussaint and every other member of the local’s executive board submitted affidavits stating “in unequivocal terms that Local 100 lacks the right to strike” against a government agency.

Full post as published by Judicial Reports on October 22, 2008 (boomark / email).