State Senate members oppose constitutional convention

ALBANY, N.Y. >> Flanked by union leaders, state Senate Democrats aligned with the GOP majority declared Monday they oppose a NYS constitutional convention that could curtail the rights of organized labor.

“There is no doubt that a constitutional convention could do tremendous damage to the state of New York,” said Sen. Diane Savino (D- Staten Island). “Whether it is repealing pension protection for workers, whether it is repealing prevailing wage laws, whether it is repealing collective bargaining laws. In an age post- Citizens United, none of us can feel safe about the idea of a constitutional convention where issues could be decided on the merits and that’s why we’re here today ... as a group we are opposed to the idea of a constitutional convention.”

“A constitutional convention would effectively mean hurting organized labor,” said Sen. Jeff Klein (DBronx), leader of the Senate Independent Democratic Conference.

“There’s already a process in place to change the constitution,” added NYS AFL- CIO President Mario Cilento. “We just did it a few years ago with casino gaming ... there’s actually going to be a ballot measure this year on the pension forfeiture piece for elected officials (convicted of public corruption).”

Citizen United is the court decision that cleared the way for massive increases in spending on political campaigns by special interests and wealthy individuals. Legislators and union leaders fear that big money will affect the outcome of a state constitutional convention.

Savino and other legislators are members of the Senate Independent Democratic Conference, a group of mostly downstate Democrats who share power with the GOP majority rather that the regular Democratic conference.

IDC members spoke at a May Day press conference on worker’s rights to tout a bill (S.5778) to make it easier for public employee unions to collect union dues from newly hired government workers.