Public Employee Press

Nearly seven years without a raise
Sewage Treatment Workers demand a wage agreement

50,886 vote yes, 872 no; raises due in February

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

Hundreds of angry Local 1320 members demonstrated at City Hall Nov. 12 to demand a pay hike after more than six years without a raise.

Sewage Treatment Workers and Senior STWs Local 1320 is locked in a bitter pay dispute with the city and the Comptroller as it fights to bring their wages into line with private-sector blue-collar workers.

“We need a contract and we need it right now,” Local 1320 President James Tucciarelli told the ­demonstrators.

The Local 1320 workers, family members and other supporters crowded the Broadway sidewalk along City Hall Park for the lively evening protest.

Local 1320 is pressing for a pay increase through a complicated process in which the Comptroller establishes a new pay rate by conducting a survey that compares members’ compensation with that of other workers with similar duties. The rate is then supposed to set the parameters of contract talks with the city.

“Mr. Comptroller, because your system is broken, we are broke!” said placards carried by many demonstrators. Members believe the Comptroller didn’t use the appropriate private-sector job in the survey, while the city is insisting on pay hikes that match those of other municipal employees.

Other signs bore messages like “$700 billion for Wall Street. Where’s our bailout?” and “Mr. Mayor: Pay us what you pay the private contractors.”

“It’s just been too long and you need a raise now,” DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts told the demonstrators. “We want to make sure that you have the living wage that you deserve.”

Other speakers included DC 37 Treasurer and Local 1407 President Maf Misbah Uddin, DC 37 Secretary and Local 1070 President Cliff Koppelman, Local 1549 President Eddie Rodriguez, state AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes, Central Labor Council Executive Director Ed Ott, City Council members John Liu and Robert Jackson, Local 1320 Vice President Tom Custance, Executive Board member Barry Decoursey, and Jim Cullen, the state field director of DC 37’s national union, AFSCME.

In interviews, demonstrators spoke of the human toll of the contract dispute, which has forced members to take on second or third jobs, placed a tremendous squeeze on family budgets and even caused some workers to lose their homes.

“My wife has had to take a part-time job, but we barely break even because we had to get a nanny for our children,” said STW Paul Kemraj.
“I can’t feed my family,” said Sewage Treatment Worker Sal Disanto. “There are guys on my job who are selling their homes. Is that right when you work for the city?”