A century ago, the suggestion that New York&#8217s working men and women could band together

to bargain for better wages and working conditions was considered a radical, even a

revolutionary, idea.

Today, labor unions are an established part of the state&#8217s economy and its politics,

as settled as Wall Street or any government entity.

New Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers out this month show that New York State continues to

lead the nation in the percentage of unionized workers, with 25.2 percent of employed workers

paying union dues. Buffalo and other New York metro areas, with rates of unionization that

also tend to run at about a quarter of employed people, are also near the top of the list of

most unionized cities.

So, what has been the result? Has that meant a stable, dedicated workforce or the

distorting entrenchment of an unaffordable status quo?

The answer, it seems, depends on whom you ask.

&#8220It&#8217s a good thing,&#8221 said Patty DeVinney, field coordinator for the Western

New York Labor Federation, the regional branch of the AFL-CIO. &#8220Where unions are in

place, you find that there are higher salaries, better health care and more retirement

security.&#8221

Highly unionized economies, DeVinney said, also place less strain on taxpayers to pay for

Medicaid or other public assistance services for workers who receive a living wage and health

and retirement benefits from their jobs, not from the taxpayers.

But it is the strain on the taxpayers that most concerns Michael Moran, spokesman for the

Business Council of New York.

Moran notes that New York&#8217s high rate of unionization is fueled by growing the

government class at a time when the private sector is contracting. In New York, 72.4 percent

of the government workers at the local, state and federal level are union members. In New

York&#8217s private sector, unions represent only 16.5 percent of the employed.

&#8220You can&#8217t maintain an economy based on government spending,&#8221 Moran said.

&#8220You have to have a vibrant private sector.&#8221

And among the impediments to a resurgent private economy, especially one struggling to

recover from a global recession, Moran said, are the high costs that powerful public sector

unions place on taxpayers.

Unions that represent teachers, health care workers and other public employees have a lot

of money and organizational strength, Moran said, and thus have a disproportionate influence

on the democratic process, particularly at the level of the New York Legislature. Those

unions&#8217 resistance to any reduction in spending that might affect their members&#8217

jobs, he said, bends the political process to the detriment of taxpayers generally.

&#8220That will distort the legislative process to some degree,&#8221 he said. &#8220And

that has set us on a spending curve that is unsustainable.&#8221

Other states with high percentages of unionized workers include those with low populations

and large numbers of government jobs &#8212 Alaska and Hawaii. The lowest rates of unionized

workers are found in the South, with the lowest rate being North Carolina&#8217s 3.1 percent.

Locally, the image of Buffalo and New York as a concentration of unionized labor is a

factor in attracting new business, said Andrew Rudnick, president of the business-boosting

Buffalo Niagara Partnership.

The area&#8217s labor force is promoted by the partnership and other business leaders as

skilled and dedicated, Rudnick said, and union membership is part and parcel of that. The

problem comes, he said, when business people considering Western New York for expansion or

relocation don&#8217t look beyond the raw numbers.

&#8220It&#8217s a mixed attribute,&#8221 Rudnick said. &#8220It all depends on whether

it&#8217s just the stats they look at or whether they bore down below the stats.&#8221

If they do really investigate the labor climate in Western New York, Rudnick said,

businesses are more likely to find things to their liking, with skills and experience they

crave.

Arthur Wheaton, director of Cornell University&#8217s Industrial and Labor Relations

program in Buffalo, also says the situation in Western New York proves that a highly unionized

economy need not be a highly contentious one.

Wheaton points to recent announcements of the preservation, and possible expansion, of jobs

at Western New York union shops General Motors and New Era Cap as evidence that active,

well-run unions are an asset to the local economy.

The GM Powertrain plant in the Town of Tonawanda was recently chosen to make a new

generation of high-efficiency engines, employing 470 more people than work there today. That

decision, announced in tandem with United Auto Workers leaders, followed the winning of

concessions from the union that includes a wage scale for new hires starting at some $14 an

hour, half of what legacy workers have been paid.

&#8220I don&#8217t think the issues of unions should be boiled down to good or bad,&#8221

said Steve Finch, manager of the Powertrain plant. &#8220However, I do believe where unions

exist that both union and management should focus on common business objectives that will

allow both parties to flourish.&#8221

And the owners of locally grown, nationally known New Era, faced with the need to close two

of its three production facilities, last month elected to retain its Derby plant and close two

factories in the South, saving 300 jobs in Erie County. Workers who are represented by the

Communication Workers of America approved wage, benefit and bonus concessions earlier this

month to make that deal possible.

&#8220We&#8217re very fortunate here in Western New York that we have had very good

labor-management relations,&#8221 Wheaton said. &#8220We want to keep jobs here, and

we&#8217re more likely to do that with a strong labor force.&#8221

Wheaton also backed the idea that a high rate of union members among an area&#8217s

workforce can ease the burden on taxpayers, as strong unions negotiate levels of pay and

benefits that allow workers and their families to depend on their jobs, not welfare, Medicaid

or other forms of public assistance, for the things they need.

He also noted that industries that require highly trained, skilled workers &#8212 from

airline pilots to professional baseball players &#8212 tend to feature strong labor unions

that allow those who do the work to have more say over how the work will be done. In the long

run, Wheaton said, that can minimize labor-management discord and improve the lives of

workers, the profits of the company and the quality of goods or services provided to the

public.

&#8220Strong labor unions give you what you most want,&#8221 Wheaton said. &#8220To have

things handled by adults with other people watching.&#8221