Public Employee Press

2% added to differentials and longevities on Jan. 28

You may have noticed an upward bump in your Jan. 28 paycheck.

The extra money comprised retroactive payments and percentage increases applying the recent 2 percent wage increase to various payments that raise your gross pay above the base amount.

The city paid the 2 percent increase due under the current economic agreement, retroactive to July 1, 2004, in the fall. But the increase was not applied to a number of extra payments that are called “additions to gross.”

The additional pay includes differentials for assignments, uniforms, education and experience; equipment and transportation allowances; longevities; service increases; recurring increment payments and some extra nighttime work.

The increases were received Jan. 28 by tens of thousands of members at mayoral agencies and the Health and Hospitals Corp. and are to be paid Feb. 4 in the Housing Authority.

The city’s three library systems and cultural institutions implemented the increases in the fall.

The economic agreement called for a $1,000 signing bonus, a 3 percent increase on July 1, 2003, and the 2 percent increase on July 1, 2004.

The contract also provides for an additional 1 percent increase if a labor-management committee known as the Joint Committee on Productivity Initiatives agrees upon productivity savings.

The term of the economic agreement is from July 1, 2002, to June 30, 2005.