The Dept. of Environmental Protection has backed off plans to contract out the supervision of a huge tunnel project after meetings with Local 375 and DC 37. Instead, the union and DEP agreed to a joint effort. Local 375 members will continue to oversee work on the 2.7-mile, 600-foot-deep portion of the Manhattan branch of Water Tunnel No. 3 in collaboration with a consultant staff.

In addition, DEP will beef up the municipal workforce at the project. Earlier this year, the city indicated it would contract out the Manhattan work and reassign up to 20 Local 375 members to smaller projects.

Although union members recently completed the 3.5-mile southern portion of the job two months ahead of schedule, the city argued that using consultants would accelerate the project and help its bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games. “Our members have the expertise to oversee this project and meet the 2008 deadline,” said Claude Fort, president of Civil Service Technical Guild
Local 375.

Under an agreement between the union and DEP, a Local 375 member will be assigned as resident engineer, supervising day-to-day operations. And DEP will add as many as five union technical workers to the project.

The agreement was worked out Oct. 3 between DEP Commissioner Christopher Ward and a union group led by DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts and Mr. Fort. Local 375’s team at the meeting included Vincent Moorehead, chair of Water Supply Chapter 13, Local 375 Rep Karl Toth and Local 375 advisor Leon Soffin.

“We stressed that our members could do the job more efficiently and that it made more sense to keep the construction management responsibilities in-house,” said Ms. Roberts. Local 375 estimates that DEP could save up to $12 million by keeping the monitoring in house, rather than hiring consultants.

“We appreciate the agency’s flexibility, and we believe this is a win-win situation for everybody,” DC 37 Professional Director Stephanie Velez said. “Commissioner Ward took a serious look at the union’s counterproposal and worked with us to come up with an agreement that addresses both the union’s concerns and those of the agency,” she added.

Under the agreement, consultants will continue to oversee the concrete work and the geological testing and will perform other construction management as well. “Assigning dedicated municipal employees to this work will guarantee accountability,” Ms. Velez said. “You simply don’t have that guarantee when profit-motivated consultants are in charge.”