By LILLIAN ROBERTS
Executive Director
District Council 37, AFSCME

DC 37 and Local 1549 have just achieved a momentous victory in a mass grievance that we pursued vigorously against strenuous opposition from the city and the Police Dept.

All of us in DC 37 have cause to celebrate the broad impact of the ruling by arbitrator Maurice Benewitz, who ordered the NYPD to use civilian employees, rather than uniformed Police Officers, to do clerical work. His decision to return about 3,500 jobs to our members represents a victory not only for these employees but also for our contracts, the civil service system and the public.

In the grievance, we charged that the Police Dept. was filling clerical-administrative jobs with uniformed officers trained and armed to protect public safety and paid twice as much as we are. The case directly affects jobs that belong to Local 1549’s Police Administrative Aides and Supervising PAAs, but the decision could indirectly affect thousands more jobs in the NYPD and throughout the city.

In September, the arbitrator ruled that putting cops at desks that should be occupied by PAAs and SPAAs violated our contract. He ordered the Police Commissioner to “cease and desist,” to return the officers to real police duties “forthwith” (that’s legalese for immediately), and to assign the work to civilians. His decision specifically rejected the city’s claim that the police commissioner’s right to assign uniformed personnel could override our contract.

Mr. Benewitz directed labor and management to “devise an efficient and rapid (he underlined this) procedure” to identify the officers who must be removed from clerical duties. This union victory ranks as one of the most important grievance arbitrations in the city’s labor relations history. It’s a win-win decision that expands job and promotion opportunities for our members and opens the door to city careers for others — offsetting the long-term erosion of the civil service system. Once the ruling is fully implemented, the city and its taxpayers could save up to $100 million, and thousands of police officers could be reassigned to improving security for everyone who lives and works in New York City.

I am proud to have worked closely with the many rank-and-file members, shop stewards, Local 1549 leaders and union staff who fought this case so long and so hard with such tremendous perseverance. The unsung heroes of this battle were the courageous members who work in a quasi-military agency but swallowed their fear to testify about contract violations. Together with a rank-and-file team led by Local 1549 President Eddie Rodriguez, Executive Vice President Lenora Gates and Chapter Chair Alvin Carter, attorney Audrey Browne did a magnificent job.

Our work is far from finished. We need to meet with management as soon as possible to plan an orderly transition process that is sensitive to the needs of our members and the Police Officers. We know this cannot happen overnight, but we have to keep the pressure on.

We will do all we can to ensure that the NYPD provides an effective training program so our members can succeed in their new jobs. DC 37 — which has the most extensive union educational program in the country — will pitch in. We will use a combination of professional educators and experienced PAAs and SPAAs to prepare members for the new challenges they will face.

Pressing for citywide civilianization
I believe strongly that public services should be provided by public employees and civilian jobs should be filled by civilian workers. Since I have been your executive director, the fight to stop private sector and uniformed employees from taking our jobs has been a priority of my administration. Two years ago, in White Paper II, DC 37 documented the vast waste of tax dollars these practices cause. By pressing hard on these issues, we have made important gains in some agencies where we worked with management to end outside contracts.

This arbitration decision is our latest success, and we will press to implement it citywide. Although we have demonstrated that our members are much more cost effective, higher paid uniformed workers still occupy additional thousands of civilian jobs. I urge the Corrections, Fire and Sanitation departments to move ahead with civilianization without the necessity for further arbitration.

The mayor says the city faces growing deficits over the next few years. He could cut waste, save money and increase productivity by relying on the members of DC 37 to do the city’s civilian work.