Today, Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz issued the following statement pursuant to the Erie County Medical Center (“ECMC”) reaching an agreement with the leadership of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (“AFSCME”) Local 1095 on a new Memorandum of Agreement.

Poloncarz said, “I commend the leadership at ECMC for coming to the table and working with leadership of AFSCME Local 1095 to reach a Memorandum of Agreement in regards to ECMC police officer pay. Erie County has no role in regards to the employees of ECMC, and I thank ECMC president Tom Quatroche for resolving the matter without any involvement from the County. I am disappointed some members of County government used this non-county matter to criticize my administration, but it just shows they do not understand the difference between ECMC and the County. For the record, ECMC and County employees are all part of the same bargaining unit, but they should not be because County government has no role in the management of ECMC employees, and vice versa for ECMC management towards County employees. This is a perfect example of why the bargaining unit should be split into two separate units, one for ECMC and one for County, in order to allow the union to better represent the issues at each employer. I believe if such a split were to take place both ECMC and the County would be better able to negotiate fair contracts for AFSCME’s members than if it stays as one bargaining unit where the members have no relationship to each other. AFSCME is an ardent advocate for their members and anything we can do to improve the negotiating process, including splitting the bargaining unit into more appropriate forms, should be considered.”