The Dept. of Education
wastes $25 million per year by paying a parallel work force of computer
consultants up to $5,000 a day. DOE has become a cash cow
for these companies, says a city worker.
By ALFREDO ALVARADO
The luxurious Marriott Hotel symbolizes the commercial revival of
downtown Brooklyn.
But for about 100 members of Electronic Data Processing Personnel
Local 2627, the 28-story building signifies a threat to their livelihood
and a huge waste of money by the city.
As many as a dozen of the 25 private computer consultant firms contracted
by the Dept. of Education work out of the 27th and 28th floors of
the swanky hotel alongside union members in the agencys Division
of Instructional and Information Technology.
The Dept. of Education is using these consultants to decimate
the civil service, said one Local 2627 member, who requested
anonymity.
The DOE is renting out the posh digs at the Marriott on Adams Street
for a whopping $2.3 million a year.
At a time of fiscal crisis, we think funds should be utilized
in a more responsible manner by moving these pricey office spaces
into one of the three buildings owned by the Dept. of Education,
said Veronica Montgomery-Costa, president of DC 37 and of Dept.
of Education Employees Local 372. One of the DOE buildings, the
agencys former headquarters at 110 Livingston Street, is practically
empty.
According to the new study, We Can Do the Work II: Learning
for Less, issued by DC 37 in December, several of these consultants
are being paid as much as $5,000 a day. The 200 or so consultant
employees who work at the DIIT constitute a parallel work force
earning from $100 to $300 or more an hour many times the
pay of equivalent city employees said DC 37 Executive Director
Lillian Roberts.
The Dept. of Education has become a cash cow for these companies,
the Local 2627 member says.
The unions study also found that most of the DOE consultants
are employed every day of the working year, as evidenced by the
warning rendered by the Internal Revenue Service, which was concerned
that they were in fact employees, not consultants.
Our members have trained many of these consultants, because
they do not possess the expertise that would justify their existence
or their replacements of civil servants, said Ms. Roberts.
Our union members can perform these services with higher efficiency
and at a much lower cost. According to the study, eliminating
the consultants and using Local 2627 members would save the city
at least $25 million a year.