Demolition work feels a little easier for more than 30 City Laborers who collectively won almost $120,000 in pay increases and promotions in September. Local 924 President Kyle Simmons, the local Executive Board and Council Rep Chandler Henderson initiated a concerted effort to “educate, organize and mobilize members” and “keep constant pressure on management,” said Mr. Simmons.

The campaign helped win a $3,952 pay increase and upgrade to Class C for each Local 924 member working for the Health and Hospitals Corp.

The Class A Laborers at HHC spent more than nine years doing out-of-title work — repairing sidewalks and breaking down the antiquated walls and ceilings of city hospitals — as part of the agency’s ongoing capital improvement plan. But when the Laborers asked for fair compensation, HHC ignored them.

Since City Laborers’ job specifications can vary from site to site, the local visited hospitals to educate members. They gave each person a copy of the consent determination. That agreement, between the city and the local, outlines the prevailing rate employees’ duties. The information helped members see there was “more to their title than moving boxes,” Mr. Simmons said.

“We are doing heavy demolition, scraping the inside to the bare walls and ripping asbestos tiles from the floors as part of interior renovation projects,” said Leo Salgado, a Local 924 Executive Board member and shop steward at Kings County Hospital.

“The city saves money by using us to do the work,” he pointed out. The local held meetings with management but stopped short of filing grievances when HHC agreed in August to upgrade all hospital Laborers to C status.

“Management realized the contribution these members were making and recognized them by giving raises and upgrades to everyone,” said Mr. Simmons. Now Laborers at Harlem, Lincoln, Metropolitan, Kings County and Bellevue hospitals can see the difference in their paychecks.

Proud of his members for standing their ground, Mr. Simmons said, “If the members weren’t persistent in going after what they wanted, they would not have achieved their goal.”