By GREGORY N. HEIRES

Economic contract talks between the union and the city are on the table.

The DC 37 Negotiating Committee, which is made up of the presidents of all DC 37 union locals, met with the city on Jan. 23 and Jan. 31.

The city made its first economic offer at the Jan. 23 session. Although the committee rejected the offer at the next session, union officials called it a sign that the city is more serious than before about reaching a settlement.

Addressing Labor Commissioner James F. Hanley at the Jan. 31 meeting, Mr. Saunders described the wage and salary offer as “totally unacceptable.” The offer falls far short of the union’s demand for a “fair and reasonable” pay increase, he said. focusing on wages and salaries, now that pension and benefit issues have been resolved.

“Negotiations are accelerating,” DC 37 Administrator Lee Saunders said. “Hopefully we can continue to work constructively with the city and we won’t hit any snags at the bargaining.

“It’s not enough to get us to shake hands across the table,” said Dennis Sullivan, DC 37 deputy administrator and director of research and negotiations. “We’re making positive movement, but we are not there yet.”

“No zeroes for heroes”
The pay increases for city workers also became an issue in January as the city administration administration announced its preliminary $39.3 billion budget, which only allocates funds for 2.5 percent raises.

Commenting on the spending plan, Mr. Saunders said, “Wage increases will be determined at the bargaining table, not by a financial plan.”

“We’re entering the home stretch,” he told the union Negotiating Committee. “I will guarantee this: There will be no zeroes for DC 37’s everyday heroes. We’re fighting hard.”

During the last two bargaining sessions, the city and the union both winnowed their demands. For the most part, the withdrawn demands related to pension matters, health care and other benefits.

Most of those issues were resolved in 2000’s historic pension gains and in the January health benefits agreement.

Last year, DC 37, the New York State AFL-CIO and the Municipal Labor Committee, the umbrella organization of city public sector unions, successfully lobbied state legislators and the governor to approve the greatest package of pension improvements in a generation.

Already in effect, the most significant part of the package guarantees retired public employees a permanent and automatic cost-of-living adjustment.

Another major gain will raise take-home pay for many members by reducing their pension contributions; this change will be retroactive to October 2000 once the new wage contract has been settled.

The recent MLC agreement on health benefits will strengthen the fiscal health of the union’s prescription drug plan for the near future, and it will provide several new and improved benefits for members.

The benefits pact provides a substantial increase in the city’s annual contribution to the DC 37 welfare fund.

Pensions, benefits, now pay
“You can think of the Contract 2000 campaign as a sturdy three-legged stool,” Mr. Saunders said. “We have built the first two legs — pensions and benefits. Now we’re building the third leg — our pay.”

The process of building that stool has involved a long, thought-out struggle.

The MLC unions worked closely together in preparation for contract talks. Unions fired their first salvo in May 1999 with a massive demonstration, demanding that working families receive a “fair share” of the city’s economic prosperity.

DC 37 officially kicked off its contract campaign in October 2000 with a gathering of 1,200 shop stewards at the union.

The stewards’ meeting was part of an effort by the union to open up the negotiating process.

The new bargaining approach has included surveying members about their priorities and establishing a new Bargaining Caucus of 300 leaders and activists.

The role of the caucus is to keep members abreast of contract issues and the progress of negotiations, as well as to bring the concerns of the rank and file to the attention of the leadership.

Coinciding with the expiration of the 1995-2000 economic agreement, DC 37 members demonstrated last March for a fair contract at a series of sites around the city. Public employees also pressed for a decent contract during the 2000 Labor Day Parade in September.