School
construction staff ratify pact
Three groups of DC 37 members at the School Construction Authority
have unanimously approved 27-month contracts that call for two 4 percent raises
and 1 percent in additional compensation.
The new contracts that cover
the 400 DC 37 members at SCA also provide for job security, a new 401(k) benefit
and additional funding for welfare benefits.
Some 200 members in Unit
A approved their contract Nov. 19 in a hand vote supervised by the American Arbitration
Association. Unit A includes Architects, Engineers and other technical workers
in Civil Service Technical Guild Local 375.
Unit B approved its contracts
in mail-ballot votes tallied in January by the AAA. Also in January, Unit C approved
its contract in a hand vote supervised by AAA.
Unit B is composed of
members of Board of Education Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1251, Accountants,
Actuaries and Statisticians Local 1407, Amalgamated Professional Employees Local
154 and Electronic Data Processing Personnel Local 2627.
Unit C comprises
Project Officers and Assistant Project Officers, who are Local 375 members. In
Unit C, one key gain is a provision that will provide 10 percent weekend and shift
differentials for Project Officers (Level 1).
The contract ratifications
trigger pension improvements contained in legislation that DC 37 won in 2000.
Members in the Tier 3 and Tier 4 pension plans will stop making basic pension
contributions after 10 years in the system. The change will boost their take-home
pay by 3 percent.
Members in the Tier 1 and Tier 2 plans will receive
up to two years of additional service credit toward their pensions.
The
bargaining committees included Local 2627 President Ed Hysyk, Local 1407 President
Maf Misbah Uddin, Local 1251 President Carolyn Harper, Local 154 President Barry
Jamison, Local 375 1st Vice President Milton Lovett and Local 375 Chapter 5 President
Sabiha Khan and Vice President Jagiello, as well as several local union activists.
Frank Burns and Kate Pfordresher of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept.
provided technical support.