Public Employee Press

Union gears up for workplace contract talks

District Council 37 is preparing for bargaining on the working conditions agreement called the Citywide Contract.

The DC 37 Citywide Bargaining Committee caucused Jan. 11 to discuss demands for talks with the city on the nonwage pact.

Late last year, in the opening session of bargaining for a new economic agreement, Labor Commissioner James Hanley said the city wants to negotiate both contracts concurrently. The city and the union have not held major talks about the Citywide Contract in over a dozen years.

At the caucus, the committee discussed the bargaining climate for the talks and considered the union's priorities.

"Technology and the workplace will likely be a major issue, among others, in these talks," said DC 37 Research and Negotiations Director Evelyn Seinfeld. "The last decade has seen rapid technological change, so we will want to address how that change affects employees, the workplace and labor management relations."

Committee members volunteered to serve on subcommittees on a number of topics, such as personnel and pay practices, time and leave, and occupational safety and health.

"We will be looking to preserve the workplace protections that we've built up over the years while we adapt the contract to address the many changes of the past 10 years," DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts said.

Once the subcommittees suggest bargaining proposals, the Citywide Bargaining Committee will refine them and put them before the Executive Board and the Delegates Council for approval.

The Citywide Contract covers about 85,000 employees in mayoral agencies and the Health and Hospitals Corp. It does not cover state and prevailing-rate workers, libraries and cultural institutions, New York City Housing Authority, City University of New York, the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, and the Dept. of Education.