Public Employee Press

Info Assistants get extra pay in Local 1930 pact

Information Assistants with at least one year on the job will get a pay boost of just over $1,600 under New York Public Library Local 1930’s new unit contract, which members of the local approved unanimously on Jan. 3.

All told, 125 Information Assistants will see their base pay rise by $1,606 under the working conditions contract, which runs from June 30, 2006, to March 2, 2008. The raise won’t apply to new IAs and those with less than a year on payroll.

The contract also calls for eight Office Associate III workers to have their $2,000 assignment differential added to their base pay, allowing it to count toward their pensions.

“This contract addresses an inequity that existed between New York Public Library’s Information Assistants and their counterparts in the Brooklyn library system,” said outgoing Local 1930 President Lynn Taylor. “The local should be able to build on this agreement by pushing for similar pay increases for clerical titles in future negotiations.”

Other gains in the agreement include expanding bereavement leave to include deceased grandchildren; a flexible spending account to allow for pre-tax payroll deductions for dependent care and health care, and extending excused time for transit delays to cover railroad and bus transportation rather than only subways.

Besides Taylor, local members on the bargaining committee included new president Carol Thomas, Valentin Colon, Karla Kostick, Anthony Wyche, Hank Sambach, Nina Manning and Laura O’Keefe.