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Public Employee Press
Grievance hits a homer
for hospital clericals As
baseball fever burnished the age-old rivalry between New Yorks hometown
teams, the Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1549 team at Metropolitan Hospital
scored two big wins. The union crossed home plate for grievants in the
telecommunications and ambulatory care departments. At issue was managements
perennial effort to low-ball costs by assigning out-of-title work to Local 1549
members. As a result of filing grievances, six Local 1549 members in
the Telecommunications Dept. won upgrades as well as back pay for the salary differential
between Clerical Associate II and III. In the Ambulatory Care Dept., Ingrid Paulino
won the upgrade and back pay. It took a while, but it came through,
said Ms. Paulino. Her winning payoff was timely, since it arrived just when she
was set to move to another Queens neighborhood. The extra money came in
handy, she said. Its important that the members come
to us, said Assistant Clerical Director Renee Gainer. They are doing
the extra work and theyre entitled to the compensation and promotions,
she said. Its our job to enforce the contract, said
Division Director Ronnie Harris. Our local is on-the-job every
day to enforce members rights, he said. Any Local 1549 member with
a problem should see their shop steward or rep or call the local ofice at 212-815-1549.
Public sector workers are constantly under attack, said Grievance
Rep Efrain Perez. When they stand up and fight, they have a chance to win. | |