Public Employee Press

Increased benefits, salaries
City settles contracts with blue-collar locals

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

DC 37 has wrapped up negotiations on four contacts affecting more than 1,000 blue-collar workers who had endured several years without raises because former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg refused to bargain with the union.

"It's finally a done deal," said Jim Tucciarelli, president of Sewage Treatment Workers and Sr. Sewage Treatment Workers Local 1320, which represents more than 700 workers. "Our long fight is finally over."

Members overwhelmingly approved the nine-year agreement - which provides for a total wage increase of 19.41 percent - in a mail-ballot vote tabulated by the independent American Arbitration Association on the day before Thanksgiving.

Currently, some 100,000 DC 37's members are covered by the union's 2010-17 master contract, which provides for a compounded 10.41 wage increase. The master contract establishes the basis for negotiating other contracts, whose provisions may vary as long as funding framework is met.

The new economic agreements of the blue-collar workers follows the pattern of the union's current, 2010-17 economic agreement, and the previous, 2008-10 contract, which provided for two 4 percent increases. Because of the Bloomberg administration's refusal to bargain, the blue-collar workers never received the 4 percent wage increases of the 2008-10 contract and were therefore forced to struggle with frozen wages for six years.

"The Bloomberg administration's refusal to bargain was unconscionable," DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido said.

After Mayor Bill de Blasio came to office, Garrido made the blue- collar contracts a major priority of the union. Negotiations intensified during the summer as both parties looked to settle.

Members of Dept. of Transportation Supervisory Workers Local 1157 approved their agreement by a near-unamimous vote on Nov. 12.

"This was a long time coming," said Local 1157 President Michael Coppola, expressing his relief that the days of frozen wages are finally over. "It's a fair deal," he said. "Did we get everything we wanted? No. But in this economy, you have to be flexible."

The highway workers' contract lasts from Jan. 1, 2008, to March 7, 2017. The pact calls for a 19.41 percent wage increase and will ultimately boost the workers pay to $46.50 an hour.

Local 1157 members will receive five lump-sum payments spread out from 2015 to 2020 that correspond to pay increases from the 2008-10 round of bargaining. The city insisted that it couldn't make the payments right away because it lacked sufficient funds in its collective bargaining account to cover the 2008-10 round of bargaining.

Two groups of workers in Prevailing Rate Employees Local 1087 also recently concluded discussions for new contracts.

Radio Repair Mechanics are voting on the agreement in a mail-ballot vote to be tabulated mid-December.

The Radio Repair Mechanics' contract extends from July 1, 2008, to Oct. 3, 2017. It includes a $1,000 ratification bonus, the restoration of paid leave benefits given up in a previous round of bargaining and five lump-sum payments for back pay.

Local 1087 held an informational session for Locksmiths and Sr. Locksmiths to inform them about their proposed agreement. The city and union concluded talks on that pact on Nov. 20. The workers' mail-ballot vote will probably be tabulated at the end of December.

The contract of Local 1087's 125 Locksmith lasts from Jan. 1, 2008, to Feb. 5, 2017. It provides for a total wage increase of 19.41 percent and five lump-sum payments corresponding to the 2008-10 round of bargaining. The city's welfare fund contributions will increase from $1,475 to $1,575 under the contracts of the two groups of workers.

"Our bargaining committees came up with what we believed was the best possible under our current circumstances," Local 1087 President Manuel A. Roman Jr. said. "Am I totally happy with the agreements? No. But as the saying goes, a good compromise is a compromise that neither side is happy with."