Abstract:
This case describes a labor dispute in New York City that escalated into a conflict between two nationally known politicians. In early February 1968, members of the Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association, rejecting a tentative contract settlement with the city, began an illegal strike. After a week, Mayor John Lindsay, citing a health emergency caused by accumulating garbage, asked Governor Nelson Rockefeller to call out the National Guard to take the place of the striking workers. Instead, the governor chose to appoint a mediation panel to see if a settlement between the city and union could be reached. When Mayor Lindsay refused to accept the panel's recommendations, Governor Rockefeller proposed a state takeover of the city's sanitation department as a way of ending the strike. Outraged, Mayor Lindsay mobilized public opinion in the state against the Rockefeller plan, generating sufficient pressure to persuade the state legislature not to enact it. With this stalemate, both the union and the city administration accepted binding arbitration as a means of reaching agreement.
Learning Objective:
This case can be used to explore union and city labor relations strategies; mediation and arbitration; competitive efforts by the union, mayor, and governor to shape public opinion; city/state relations; and the effect of rank-and-file revolts on both union and legislative leaders.
