By Gregory N. Heires

DC 37's 200-member Council-wide Bargaining Caucus met Sept. 17 to prepare for negotiations on a new economic agreement.

Union leaders and research and negotiations staff briefed the group on the city's bargaining climate, reviewedrecent collective bargaining settlements and reflected upon the previous round of bargaining. Activists then offered suggestions for DC 37's strategy to win a new contract.

The union's 27-month economic agreement expired June 30, but its terms remain in effect until a new pact is negotiated.

"We are going to fight like hell to bring back the best contract we can," DC 37 Executive Director Lillian
Roberts said.

As the union enters a new round of bargaining during difficult economic times, Ms. Roberts said, the Council-wide Bargaining Caucus will play a vital role by keeping rank-and-file members abreast of negotiations and providing a sounding board for their input in the negotiations process.

"We regard you as extremely important in this process," she said.

Ms. Roberts said the union would rely on the caucus members as on-site intelligence gatherers to help to provide the union with ammunition at the bargaining table to counter management demands.
Over the summer, bargaining subcommittees worked on contract demands, which the Delegates Assembly will vote on later this fall after review by the DC 37 Executive Board and the DC 37 Negotiations Committee.

New challenges
Under the union's negotiations structure, once the Delegates Assembly approves the demands, the Negotiations Committee, which is made up of the 56 local presidents, is responsible for making day-to-day decisions during the bargaining process. The council-wide caucus serves as a link between the committee and the union's 125,000 members.

At the meeting, the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept. provided the caucus with background material and gave a PowerPoint presentation entitled, "Changed World - New Challenge."

In his presentation, Director Dennis Sullivan gave an overview of the negotiations process. He discussed gains in the last round and the union's challenges and agenda in the upcoming talks. Assistant Director Michael Musuraca discussed the economic and budget picture, while Associate Director Evelyn Seinfeld informed the caucus about recent collective bargaining settlements (see below).

"We are about to begin a very challenging round of bargaining," Mr. Sullivan said. He noted that the union will be negotiating at a time when fiscal experts say the city faces its biggest budget crisis since the mid-1970s.

Tax cuts, the recession and the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center have put an enormous strain on city services, Mr. Sullivan said, noting that the state of the national economy remains uncertain. Yet, inflation remains low and the public demand for services has grown since Sept. 11. "City workers expect and deserve a fair and equitable raise," he said.

Rank-and-file mobilization
Looking back on the last round of bargaining, Mr. Sullivan pointed out that in addition to the two 4 percent wage increases and the 1 percent additional compensation fund at the end of the contract, DC 37 was able to expand health and welfare benefits and improve pension coverage by working with other municipal unions. A key goal of this round will be to protect those gains.

During the question and answer period, members asked for some technical clarifications about the material in the presentation and called for the union to prevent further erosion of the city work force and to drum up massive rank-and-file support for the negotiators.

"We have got to have more rank and file involvement this time," said Local 375 Membership Chair Jon Forster.

"We cannot stand any more shortage of employees," said Public Health Assistant Beatrice Everett, a Local 768 member. "Our work force is overworked, stressed-out and burned out."