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Public Employee Press
Contract talks are underway
By GREGORY N. HEIRES
DC 37 and city negotiators met Dec. 5 for the opening session of bargaining
for a new economic agreement.
The union presented the city with its demands, which call for a two-year
agreement with a fair, reasonable and livable wage increase and the preservation
of health and other benefits (see below).
This is a very important round of negotiations for the union,
DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts told city negotiators. More
than anything else, we are interested in catching up and being made whole.
During the meeting at union headquarters in Lower Manhattan, DC 37 Research
and Negotiations Director Dennis Sullivan presented the unions 39
demands to the citys team led by Labor Commissioner James F. Hanley.
Record surplus
Sullivan noted that the political and economic climate has improved since
the last round of bargaining, not long after the 9/11 attacks. The regions
economy was battered, the tax base had shriveled, the budget was in crisis
and the workforce was reeling from layoffs. Today, in contrast, the city
is projecting a record surplus based on hefty revenues from Wall Street
and the real estate market.
The previous agreement, with a $1,000 signing bonus and a total of 6 percent
in wage increases over its 39-month duration, expired June 30. Its terms
will stay in effect as city and union negotiators hammer out the new deal.
Our members have told us that they expect the administration to
do the right thing this time, Sullivan said. They had to sacrifice
in the last round.
Working with less
Sullivan noted that the non-uniformed workers headcount is down by 7,000
since the last economic bargaining, while the dedicated union members
have continued to maintain the same level of services. Inflation
has escalated after being dormant for several years, Sullivan said.
But the citys condition is better and our members say they
want to be rewarded.
The unions demands include several that were discussed during the
last bargaining together with a number of new ones. The union wants to
restore some benefits and end the reduced minimum salaries for newly hired
employees.
Brief response by city
Key demands include an employer match for the 401(k) plan, new 20-year
and 25-year longevity increments, a recurring annuity payment of $5 a
day, eliminating the residency requirement for city employment and employer-provided
TransitCheks with no administrative fee.
Following the customary practice in municipal bargaining, the opening
session was short as Hanley commented briefly on the unions demands.
Hanley took issue with what he called the rosy position of
the union about the budget outlook. While today the city has a surplus,
it will face a substantial deficit in its next budget and even higher
ones in subsequent years, he said.
Hanley suggested that both parties should be able to grapple with the
unions call for a reopening of the Chapter 96 pension program, a
DC 37 demand from the last round. We will have a proposal for you
at the next session, he said.
It looks daunting, he said about this round of bargaining.
But to quote Isaiah, Come let us reason together.
The city will present its proposals to the union at a bargaining session
scheduled for Jan. 13.
DC 37 opened negotiations shortly after the city concluded new contracts
that extend into 2007 with the teachers and some unions of uniformed workers.
The Dec. 5 session occurred as the Transport Workers Union and Metropolitan
Transportation Authority were at the table with the possibility of a strike
looming over the city.
In a budget briefing for the union committee, Assistant Research and Negotiations
Director Michael Musuraca pointed out that the Bloomberg administration
unlike other recent administrations has included a labor
reserve in its spending plan. The current fiscal year 2006 budget includes
3.15 percent for wage increases. The following three years include increases
of 1.25 percent a year.
Protect welfare benefits
In a caucus, Juan Fernandez, president of Amalgamated Professional Employees
Local 154, said the union must press the city to agree to a substantial
contribution to its benefits fund. The fund covers the unions prescription
drug benefit, which for years has been battered by skyrocketing costs.
Maf Misbah Uddin, DC 37 treasurer and president of Accountants, Statisticians
and Actuaries Local 1407, said that the labor reserves and the raises
in the citys recent settlements with other municipal unions establish
a target for the DC 37 Negotiating Committee.
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