Public Employee Press

DC 37 welcomes 3,000 JTPs with a pay increase

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

DC 37 has welcomed 3,000 new members to the union family by winning them a wage increase
On Oct. 3, DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts signed an agreement with the city that raises the hourly pay of Job Training Participants by 50 cents to $8.

The pact also sets up a grievance procedure, provides health and safety protections and includes one paid personal leave day and one paid medical leave day after 90 days on the job.

Most JTPs are former welfare recipients who have exhausted their five-year lifetime limit on federally funded welfare benefits. Federal, state and city funds pay for the six-month Jobs Training Program, where participants do jobs like weed whacking, cleaning up debris and clerical work.

“The union will be working hard with city agencies to try to help find them permanent positions,” Roberts said. DC 37 plans to work with Human Resources Commissioner Verna Eggleston to develop a training program that will help place JTPs in permanent jobs.

DC 37 won representation rights for the workers in a 2004 decision by the Board of Certification of the Office of Collective Bargaining. In January, the state Supreme Court denied the city’s appeal. Associate General Counsel Mary J. O’Connell handled the cases.

Under the agreement, JTPs are expected to put in a 40-hour workweek that may include a day of training at the $8 hourly rate. The pact also establishes a city-union committee to monitor the
program.

“We want these new members to know that we will be there for them, making sure that they receive the rights and protections they deserve,” Roberts said.

DC 37 is asking the new members to sign union recognition cards, and the union is surveying them on their education, work experience and other issues.

Blue Collar Division Director Jose Sierra and Council Rep Bill Fenty are coordinating the outreach effort. “We plan to keep track of open city positions so we can encourage our qualified members to apply for permanent jobs,” Sierra said.

“A rewarding part of the surveying process is that it lets us get to know these workers and helps put a human face on the union,” said Fenty.