Public Employee Press

Bloomberg team sues to stop Laborer raises

The Bloomberg administration has gone to court to block a wage ruling issued by city Comptroller John Liu's office that would give Laborers in Local 924 raises of up to 50 percent to cover the nine years they have worked without pay increases.

The Comptroller's Oct. 13 "final determination" would consolidate the three current hourly rates into one rate of $32.72 per hour.

Depending upon their current rate, the workers' pay hikes could range from 40 to 50 percent - plus back-pay packages totaling tens of thousands of dollars for the years they worked without raises from July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2010.

Several years ago, Local 924 members voted to use the complicated "prevailing rate" process under Section 220 of the state Labor Law, which calls for the Comptroller to match their pay with equivalent workers in the private sector. After an extensive and time-consuming survey process, the Comptroller matched the city Laborers with the Mason Tenders of Laborers Local 79.

The Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings upheld the Comptroller's preliminary recommendation, which was finalized in October.

Throughout the process, DC 37 General Counsel Mary O'Connell, Sr. Assistant General Counsel Steven Sykes, Sr. Assistant Director David Paskin of the Research and Negotiations Dept. and the local's attorney, Dan Bright, provided technical assistance.

While the city contests the Comptroller's determination in court, the ruling could still serve as a blueprint for a negotiated settlement. While it fails to implement the raises, the city is subject to an interest charge.

"We are very happy with the Comptroller's survey result and believe it should lead to a just conclusion to this struggle," Local 924 President Kyle Simmons said.

"But this struggle has occurred at a tremendous cost for our members, who have gone through divorces, been forced to borrow from their pensions, accumulated huge credit card debts and been hit with foreclosures," Simmons said.

"We want to celebrate, yet in the back of our minds we cannot forget that this has come about through great sacrifice," he added. "But we are confident justice will prevail and we will get the wages that we are entitled to under the law."