With what I’m assuming is a nod to the classic Star Trek episode of a similar name, the fiscally conservativ Empire Center unveiled a report this morning that’s a salvo aimed at the Triborough amendment to the Taylor Law.

The report, written by E.J. McMahon, points to the mounting costs the amendment charges to New York.

The Triborough amendment, which allows the terms of a contract to stay in place after that agrement has expired, has long been a bugaboo of local governments and business interests. Unions defend the law, saying that it provides for assurances in health care and other benefits.

From the Empire Center:

The Triborough Amendment gives unions an incentive to resist negotiating structural changes to their contracts, since the status quo will be preserved even if there is no contract.
Pay hikes required by the Triborough Amendment cost the state government $140 million a year and add almost $300 million a year to school budgets.
The requirement to finance automatic pay increases has undermined attempts to stretch taxpayer dollars further in a time of extreme financial stress.
Repeal of the Triborough Amendment will establish a more equitable collective bargaining system in New York’s public sector, preserving basic union rights while giving local officials the tools they now lack to negotiate needed changes to costly and outmoded contracts.

It’s not terribly new that business interests and budget hawks want a repeal of the union-friendly law.

But what was interesting, too, about the report, is the long list of provided statements from the Business Council, the New York Council of Mayors, the state School Boards Association and Unshackle Upstate called Let NY Work. Those groups formed a coalition this year with the goal of stripping away mandates in order to comply with the 2 percent cap on local property tax levy increases.

Tri Borough Final

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