Labor leaders say they received no notice. They want an answer by July 15.
Fired State Fair ticket takers (from left) Joe Scarcella, Teresa Tomeny and Nick Azzarello pose for a photo Saturday outside the fair's main entrance in Geddes. Scarcella had worked at the state fair since the 1960s. On June 22, an administrator called to say he was no longer employed at the fair. Thousands of union members are threatening to boycott the New York State Fair because the state is no longer honoring 40-year-old agreements to hire union ushers, ticket takers, plumbers, electricians and others for the 12-day event.
The Greater Syracuse Labor Council said it will drop its Labor Day parade and encourage members not to go to the fair if the state does not work out the labor issues by July 15.
Union leaders also said they would encourage politicians to stay away from the fair — a traditional playground for candidates to shake hands and eat a sausage sandwich for the cameras.
Three labor unions have disputes with the state fair: SEIU Local 200 United, CSEA Local 1000 and the Central New York Building and Construction Trades Council. Together, they employ hundreds of people who spruce up the fairgrounds in summer and usher people in and out of the main event.
As many as 40 painters, electricians, plumbers and laborers would normally start work now, but workers saw on the state fair website that the state was taking applications for their skilled trades jobs, said Greg Lancette, business agent for Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 267.
The state fair is offering to pay about $18 an hour with no benefits for jobs that used to pay $47 an hour, including benefits, he said.
“We weren’t notified in any way, shape or form, not even by a phone call,” Lancette said.
At SEIU Local 200, workers show up every year at union offices to apply for 12-day fair jobs as ushers and ticket takers, but they were also told to apply directly to the state fair. Most of those 100 workers have also not yet been hired and two supervisors have been fired.
Joe Scarcella, a supervisor, has worked at the state fair since the 1960s. He has seen Bob Hope and Shania Twain at the grandstand. The state sent him a notice in early June with his work dates and pay rates. Then, on June 22, an administrator called to say he was no longer employed at the fair. There was no explanation, Scarcella said.
“It came out of left field,” he said. “I was completely, completely shocked.”
In addition, 20 year-round security and maintenance workers represented by CSEA were fired with no reason in April.
When a reporter asked for comment in April, state fair Director Dan O’Hara waved his hand out a car window and said only, “Some changes. Gotta go.” O’Hara did not return a telephone call seeking comment for this report.
Union leaders say the changes in employment have to do with a change in the overall operating structure of the fair.
Until recently, the fair was run by the Department of Agriculture and Markets and a little-known public group called the Industrial Exhibit Authority. It was created in the 1930s for the state to accept New Deal money to construct new buildings at the fairgrounds. Over the years, the authority came to employ most of the fair’s workers and control a $6 million budget.
Last year, the state legislature voted to disband the Industrial Exhibit Authority, saying it had outlived its purpose.
A spokesperson for the state agriculture department said at the time that there would be no layoffs and the public would not notice a difference in the fair’s entertainment and exhibits.
For the workers, there was a big change.
Union leaders say the state no longer recognizes the collective bargaining agreements of a defunct state authority.
The workers say it does not matter if the contract is with the state authority or the stage agency. Their paychecks came from New York state. They were signed by the same administrators, who work in the same offices and have the same e-mail addresses.
“We’re saying nothing has changed,” said Dawn Clarry, political director for SEIU Local 200. “We believe this was a way for the state to get out of relationships with this union and others.”
Scarcella said it is possible the firings have to do with an incident two years ago between O’Hara and ushers in the grandstands.
O’Hara threatened to fire an usher who told O’Hara’s teenage daughter and three girlfriends at the Jonas Brothers concert that they had to move from an area reserved for fans using wheelchairs.
O’Hara and his wife loudly cursed at the usher while they were surrounded by families with children, the ushers said.
The Greater Syracuse Labor Council sent a letter to O’Hara and copied it to state and federal elected officials, demanding that the state respond to the union’s questions by July 15.
The Labor Council traditionally hosts a parade on Labor Day — the fair finale. The fair gives the Labor Council 25,000 free tickets and the council organizes the parade, builds floats and pays the bands.
“We won’t be doing anything if we don’t get some resolution to this issue by the 15th of July,” said Dennis Nave, president of the Greater Syracuse Labor Council. “We represent about 120,000 working families, and we would ask all of them not to attend the fair this year at all out of respect for those workers who were affected.”
--Contact Michelle Breidenbach at mbreidenbach@syracuse.com or 470-3186.