How a feud over health benefits between CSEA and Bruce Blakeman could roil county executive race

Nassau's largest employee union and its retirees are in a bitter fight with County Executive Bruce Blakeman over health coverage a little more than six months before the Republican seeks a second term this November. 

Blakeman's conflict with the Civil Service Employees Association has been brewing in and out of court for nearly two years. Despite a new memorandum of agreement intended to rectify members' concerns, the feud could cost Blakeman votes from a typically reliable and engaged group of county workers. 

With more than 8,000 members and retirees, the union has the potential to sway local elections even without issuing any official endorsement. CSEA represents a broad swath of the county workforce in nearly all departments and can take sides in a campaign through negative advertisements and social media posts. 

"It all affects us and our families so personally so we do really pay attention to county politics because we know that whomever is elected is going to either honor our contract or take money out of our pockets," said Michael Schwartz, a county police medic for 17 years and a member of CSEA Local 830. 

Schwartz, 39, a registered Republican from Bellmore who voted for Blakeman in 2021, said he and other members believe the new MOA is "a deceptive way to use a loophole to renegotiate a contract" alleging Blakeman officials are "trying to balance their budget on the backs of the county workforce."

Similar disputes between governments and municipal unions are playing out across the country, notably in California, New Jersey and New York City, where Mayor Eric Adams has waged a battle over health coverage for retirees.

Landing an endorsement

Any official CSEA endorsement would be months away, if at all, for a candidate in the county executive's race, union officials told Newsday.

A few weeks before the 2017 election, the CSEA endorsed Republican Jack Martins over Democrat Laura Curran, even after refraining from picking a side in the two election cycles prior. In 2021, the union did not issue an endorsement but ran campaign ads slamming Curran for using federal pandemic funds to send $375 stimulus checks to most county households as the union was struggling to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement, Newsday previously reported. 

Scott Cohen, a spokesman for the Nassau Retirees Legal Fund, a group of about 1,250 former county CSEA employees, said in a statement to Newsday that members "have not yet decided to endorse any candidate for the county executive position, although due to the ongoing issue regarding the retirees' health care and the current county executive's position, we cannot endorse Bruce Blakeman for reelection."

The group became a 501(c) (3) nonprofit in October 2023 to raise money to stop the county from weakening retiree health benefits. In December 2023, it won a temporary restraining order that prevented the Blakeman administration from moving the group from the state's Empire health plan into the Excelsior plan, which held higher out-of-pocket costs for less coverage. 

Blakeman told Newsday in an emailed statement that he was "very happy that after extensive negotiations we have a Memorandum of Agreement that will secure quality health care for our workers and their families well into the future and I am hopeful that the members will swiftly approve the agreement."

When asked whether he was concerned about the impact on his reelection campaign, Blakeman said that elsewhere in the state employees pay up to 30% of their base salary toward health insurance premiums. 

"CSEA members have expressed gratitude to me that they are paying far less for health care in Nassau County than CSEA workers throughout the state," Blakeman added.

Blakeman, a former attorney and business person from Atlantic Beach, defeated Curran, a legislator from Baldwin, in November 2021 by 2,150 votes, or less than 1% of the vote.

Shortly after he took office in January 2022, Blakeman began negotiating with three of the county's major public employee unions: Police Benevolent Association, Correction Officers Benevolent Association and CSEA.

Change in benefits

In August 2023, CSEA members ratified a contract with the county that includes a 25% total pay hike over 13 years. The Blakeman administration and union leaders also agreed to a health insurance change from NYSHIP's Empire Plan — widely considered the state's gold standard coverage — to the NYSHIP Excelsior Plan.

The move from Empire to Excelsior was to save the county about $280 million over the 13-year contract. 

Scores of retired county workers who were formerly members of CSEA revolted and filed suit, winning a temporary restraining order that allows them to stay in Empire.

In February 2024, state officials told Nassau County officials they would be discontinuing the Excelsior Plan, and in the summer of 2024 the county had to scramble to find new health insurance for the 4,000 CSEA members governed by the contractual change. 

State CSEA officials stripped authority from the president and vice president of Local 830, who negotiated the 2023 contract, and installed temporary administrators. The current members then sued the county, winning a court decision similar to that of the retirees that allowed them to remain in Empire for the duration of 2025.

A copy of the new MOA obtained by Newsday this week shows members are guaranteed the Empire Plan or equivalent through 2025. They would contribute 3% of their base salary toward health insurance premiums beginning in 2026 but previously promised wage increases would be delayed. Retirees and seasonal workers would get retroactive raises paid within 60 days of ratification. 

CSEA leaders say they are hosting informational sessions during April before a tentative vote on the MOA before the first week of May. On May 15, CSEA will hold elections for a new executive board. 

"The court order did not address the remaining years of the contract from 2026 to 2030," said Jarvis Brown, the CSEA's Long Island regional president charged with the day-to-day operations until new union officers are elected. "CSEA and the county must resolve health insurance to replace the Excelsior Plan for the rest of the contract term. This means we either negotiate a definite solution or potentially get stuck in a yearly cycle of grievances, lawsuits and uncertainty."

For Terry Thomann, who retired from the county health department in August 2023 after 31 years of service, the debacle and uncertainty over health coverage has caused stress and anxiety that she says could dictate how some of her former colleagues vote. 

She said many retirees had worked through wage freezes when the county was in poor fiscal shape and felt insulted when they had no say in their health coverage. 

"You make a choice to work for government. I worked well beyond my pay level. I made that decision for my family and thank God I did because I had a great career," Thomann said. "What is going on now is absolutely incredible."

By Candice Ferrette

candice.ferrette@newsday.comcandiceferrette

Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.