UPDATE: A contract was signed Wednesday, Aug. 29, and approved by the arbitration panel.

Contract likely to be signed this week

By Sarah Hall

Editor

After nearly two years of negotiations, officials from New York State Public High School Athletic Association’s Section III and high school sports referees have reached a contract agreement.

“Once all of the new language is agreed to, a signed contract should happen this coming week,” said Jim Magnarelli, who has represented referees from 48 boards in more than 30 sports. Magnarelli is also the Second Ward councilor for the town of Salina.

Magnarelli said the final details were resolved in a conference call between attorneys for Section III and the officials on Thursday, Aug. 23. The agreement allowed refs to take the field for Aug. 25 football scrimmages across Section III, the largest of the 11 sections covered by the New York State Public High School Athletic Association, representing 104 school districts in 11 counties.

Officials have been working without a contract since the old contract expired July 31, 2017. They have been working under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that extended the terms of the previous contract while the matter was under arbitration. Since then, three MOUs have been signed for the fall 2017, winter 2017-18 and spring 2018 sports seasons. Officials insisted on a four-year contract before they would return to the fields for the fall 2018 season.

Negotiations stalled a year and a half ago, Magnarelli said, when Section III turned to arbitration for the referees’ contracts instead of continuing to work with the union.

“They were sure it was going to get them everything they wanted,” Magnarelli said. “Well, it backfired, because it took so long.”

When officials refused to take the field without a contract, it forced Section III to return to the table. The section’s attorney met with officials from all over Northern and Central New York on Aug. 1.

“We made headway, but we couldn’t come up with a deal,” Magnarelli said. “We made a lot of concessions.”

While an early sticking point about officials’ fees and mileage reimbursement was resolved at the Aug. 1 meeting, the two sides were unable to reach an agreement on how many officials should be required on the field for football games.

“The biggest issue [that was still outstanding] is that football wanted an extra official—five people,” Magnarelli said. “According to the contract now, you have four people working at a game. The last several years, 95 percent [of schools] have used five people. We want it put in the contract mandating [it] for the small group of schools that didn’t use five people.”

Football officials said the extra official was necessary to ensure the safety of the players.

“The single factor preventing our chapter from taking the field this fall is the number of officials needed to work a football game,” the Mohawk Valley Chapter of Certified Football Officials (MVCCFO) said in an Aug. 10 press release. “[The philosophy is now] ‘when in doubt, throw the flag’ for the safety of the players… Thus more officials are needed to better monitor the game.”

The MVCCFO release pointed out that their numbers have gone down in the last several years, largely because of poor pay: in 2013, the organization had 71 members, while this year, only 49 have paid dues for the upcoming season. The release noted that other organizations are facing the same problem.

“No high school official, in any sport, takes the field for the money. They do so because they have a passion for the sport, desire to stay involved in the sport they love, and aspire to work with student athletes,” the release said. “We want to work; however, our officials work as independent contractors being paid directly by the schools and have an absolute right to refuse to work under situations, arbitrated or not, that they believe are unsafe for student athletes and leave them open to liability.”

According to Magnarelli, the meeting on Aug. 23 resolved the final issue.

“The main items that were agreed to was the amount of a flat fee to be paid for each contest, number of football officials for each contest and the ability to offer extra officials at a lower fee by mutual consent of schools and officials,” he said.

Magnarelli said the fall sports season should now proceed without interruption.