That is, if he wants to.
This is all thanks to their idiotic work slowdown. It seems Pat Lynch isn't as bright as he thinks he is. Follow me below the fold
Setting aside that it can easily be argued that NYC might just be overpoliced right now - which I agree with - a work slowdown is illegal as per the states Civil Service law, which outlaws strikes.
The Civil Service law, more commonly referred to as the "Taylor law", outlines the basics of public employee rights, responsibilities, and conduct. In New York, strikes are outlawed for civil servants. We provide essential public services, and even as a huge proponent of organized labor, I agree with the concept that civil servants should not strike because of what our responsibilities are.
The Taylor law defines a strike as a strike or work slowdown. Obviously, the NYPD PBAs temper tantrum is demonstrably that - a work slowdown. That's blatently clear due to having a 90%+ drop in almost every tracked statistic there is about police performance (arrests, traffic tickets, parking tickets, you name it). This can't be anything other than a work slowdown.
As such, the Mayor could being proceedings to deal with the situation that would be extremely detrimental to the PBA:
1. Members of a striking union can lose 2 days pay for every 1 day a strike action takes place.
2. Union leaders of a striking union can be jailed for the duration of a strike.
3. The union itself can be sanctioned up to and including the loss of dues checkoff.
Now, I'm a union guy. I believe in the cause of organized labor. But a work slowdown because a union decides to throw a childish temper tantrum because a mayor told his mixed-race son (rightly) to use caution around the police?
I say unleash the full force of the Taylor law, Mr. de Blasio. The Taylor law exists for just this kind of situation. Sure, many of the arrests not taking place are for quality of life issues at this point and not real crime. But what happens when one of these guys doesn't show up for a real call, or their response time costs a citizen a life? This is exactly why the no-strikes clause exists. Use it.
Edit for clarity:
From an organized labor perspective in New York, this is much more far reaching than simply the PBA.
The laws involved here - the Taylor law and the Triborough amendment to the Taylor law - are some of the most progressive in the nation when it comes to providing unionization rights to public sector employees. There is far more to them than just the "no strikes" clause I bring up here, and much of it is positive for labor.
The PBAs work slowdown has the potential to put the entirety of those laws at risk, because they've been a target for a long, long time by the right (and many of Cuomos funders). In other words, it's often rumored that Cuomo wants to take a shot at weakening the Taylor law and the Triborough amendment.
As such, if this slowdown causes the NYPD to botch anything - IE: a slow response due to the slowdown resulting in a citizen injury or death - Cuomo and his buddies now have a reason to say they need to rework the Taylor law. That would be detrimental to every public sector union in this state.
This is all the more reason to use the corrective portions of the Taylor law to end this nonsense. Because it can hurt labor overall if Cuomo gets what he needs to attack Taylor and Triborough.